President Trump on Monday vowed that the arrest of a green card holder over his involvement in protests critical of Israel was the first of “many to come” as civil liberties groups are pushing back against the campaign that has chilling implications for the First Amendment.
Over the weekend, Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia grad student who served as a spokesman for student activists seeking the university’s divestment from Israel, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in his university-owned apartment.
For now, a federal judge is preventing Khalil from being deported. “To preserve the Court’s jurisdiction pending a ruling on the petition, Petitioner shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise,” Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York said in a court order in response to a petition filed by Khalil.
When he was arrested, Khalil was told that under orders from the State Department, his visa would be revoked for his participation in the protests. He informed the agents that he had a green card, making him a permanent resident, and was told that it would be revoked instead.
Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant. He has been taken to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana, 1,000 miles away from his wife in New York City, and has not been charged with any crime.
The Department of Homeland Security has only alleged that he “led Hamas-aligned protests” in support of President Trump’s executive order “prohibiting antisemitism,” referring to an order from January meant to crack down on pro-Palestine protests at college campuses.
“Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” Trump said.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a story on X about Khalil being arrested and wrote, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
The term “Hamas supporters” has not been defined by the administration, and critics of US support for Israel and of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories are often labeled “pro-Hamas.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sent a letter to Trump administration officials demanding answers about Khalil’s arrest. “Demonstrations occurring on Columbia’s campus since Oct. 7, 2023, have included both constitutionally protected speech and unlawful conduct, but the government has not made clear the factual or legal basis for Mr. Khalil’s arrest,” FIRE said.
“The statements the government has released suggest its decision may be based on his constitutionally protected speech. This lack of clarity is chilling protected expression, as other permanent residents cannot know whether their lawful speech could be deemed to ‘align to’ a terrorist organization and jeopardize their immigration status,” FIRE added in the letter.
Jenin Younes, a civil liberties attorney, said in a post on X that Khalil’s arrest was “political persecution” and pointed to the fact that green card holders can’t be deported without a conviction.
“Green card holders cannot be deported for mere charges, only actual convictions of crimes of moral turpitude and aggravated felonies (those are defined in fed immigration law). And Khalil hasn’t even been charged,” Younis said. “These are all major red flags that this is an attempt to punish someone for expressing views disfavored by the current administration, and scare others with similar views into silence.”
Joseph Howley, a professor at Columbia, defended Khalil in comments to The New York Times, saying it was unfair to depict him as a dangerous person.
“This is someone who seeks mediated resolutions through speech and dialogue,” he said. “This is not someone who engages in violence, or gets people riled up to do dangerous things. So it’s really disturbing to see that kind of misrepresentation of him.”
