New York, New York - In the latest shocking crackdown on protests in solidarity with Palestine, Columbia University on Thursday expelled the leader of its student workers union.

Grant Miner, a PhD student at Columbia, is the president of UAW Local 2710, which represents over 3,000 graduate and undergraduate students employed by the university.

According to the union, he was fired and expelled the day before bargaining on a new contract were set to begin.

Miner and Student Workers of Columbia had been at the forefront of protests demanding the university divest from and end collaboration with Israeli institutions currently in a bloody war on Palestinians that has been declared genocidal by multiple investigations.

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The union was also particularly vocal in standing up for Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who was shockingly detained by immigration authorities on the direction of the Trump administration despite being a green-card holder. He faces deportation for allegedly engaging in activities opposed to US foreign policy – a vague accusation without legal basis that legal scholars have pointed out violates First Ammendment rights.

Miner's expulsion "is part of a wave of crackdowns on free speech against students and workers who have spoken out and protested for peace and against the war on Gaza," UAW Local 2710 said in a statement.

"As the UAW has emphasized, the assault on First Amendment rights being jointly committed by the federal government and Columbia University are an attack on all workers who dare to protest, speak out, or exercise their freedom of association under the US Constitution."

Student Workers of Columbia will hold a rally outside the university's Studebaker Hall on Friday at 1:30 PM ET, highlighting the "unprecedented campus repression, including the expulsion of Miner and other students."