On Monday, President Donald Trump bragged about taking steps to deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, saying the Columbia College graduate pupil who organized anti-Israel protests final 12 months 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 wrote in a put up on Reality Social. “Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country—never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply. Thank you!”
Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Saturday, who mentioned they have been taking him into custody as a result of the State Division had revoked his pupil visa. Nonetheless, Khalil is a authorized everlasting resident with a inexperienced card who had not been charged with any crimes earlier than his arrest.
Scholar negotiator Mahmoud Khalil on the Columbia College campus in New York at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on April 29, 2024.
After his arrest, the Division of Homeland Safety mentioned that Khalil led “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization” and that he’ll now be deported as a result of that violates an government order Trump signed on Jan. 30 that claims the Trump administration will “deport Hamas sympathizers and revoke student visas.”
“We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a put up on X.
In an look on Fox Enterprise on Monday, Trump border czar Tom Homan defended Khalil’s deportation, and mentioned the US can deport authorized everlasting residents.
“Absolutely we can,” Homan mentioned. “Did he violate the terms of his visa? Did he violate the terms of his residency here? Committing crimes, attacking Israeli students, locking down buildings, destroying property, absolutely. Any resident alien who commits a crime is eligible for deportation.”
However Khalil wasn’t arrested for any of these aforementioned crimes.
Arresting and deporting somebody over speech that doesn’t align with the administration’s insurance policies is a terrifying slippery slope. Right now it’s Palestinian activists, however subsequent it could possibly be anybody who criticizes Trump or Republicans.
“This arrest is unprecedented, illegal, and un-American,” the American Civil Liberties Union, which defends the best to free speech in the US, mentioned in an announcement on Monday. “The federal government is claiming the authority to deport people with deep ties to the U.S. and revoke their green cards for advocating positions that the government opposes. To be clear: The First Amendment protects everyone in the U.S. The government’s actions are obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate. The government must immediately return Mr. Khalil to New York, release him back to his family, and reverse course on this discriminatory policy.”
Even anti-immigration right-wing activists have mentioned they take challenge with Khalil’s arrest and deportation for that purpose.
“There’s almost no one I don’t want to deport, but, unless they’ve committed a crime, isn’t this a violation of the first amendment?” bigoted right-wing activist Ann Coulter wrote in a put up on X.
Finally, the transfer is one in all many free speech crackdowns Trump and the Republican Get together have taken since he was sworn in on Jan. 20. Trump has focused legislation corporations who’ve both defended Democratic officers or sued Trump.
On Thursday, he signed an government order that revoked safety clearances of attorneys on the legislation agency Perkins Coie and barred them from federal authorities buildings “when such access would threaten the national security of or otherwise be inconsistent with the interests of the United States.” Within the order, Trump attacked Perkins Coie for “representing failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton,” and for defending Fusion GPS which he mentioned “manufactured a false ‘dossier’ designed to steal an election.”
“This is dangerous as hell,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), rating member of the Home Judiciary Committee, informed the Wall Avenue Journal of Trump’s assaults on legislation corporations. “If you defend other people’s rights, even if it’s your job, the president of the United States will retaliate against you.”
In the meantime, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) obtained a letter from the Division of Justice in February demanding he “clarify” feedback he made calling co-President Elon Musk a “dick.”
“This sounds to some like a threat to Mr. Musk—an appointed representative of President Donald Trump who you call a “dick”—and authorities employees who work for him. Their issues have led to this inquiry,” Ed Martin, interim United States legal professional for the District of Columbia, wrote within the letter.
Rep. Al Inexperienced, D-Texas, is escorted out as Trump addresses a joint session of Congress on the Capitol in Washington, on March 4, 2025.
“So if you criticize Elon Musk, Trump’s DOJ will send you this letter,” Garcia wrote on Bluesky. “Members of Congress must have the right to forcefully oppose the Trump Administration. I will not be silenced.”
Martin additionally threatened Georgetown College Regulation Faculty, saying that if the varsity continues to show courses associated to range, fairness, and inclusion that his workplace wouldn’t rent college students from the varsity.
And Home Republicans censured Texas Democratic Rep. Al Inexperienced for saying throughout Trump’s joint deal with to Congress on March 4 that Trump had “no mandate” to chop Medicaid. Republicans are additionally threatening to take away Inexperienced from his Home committee assignments over his protest.
With all these strikes, fascism is not a risk: It’s right here, and it’s terrifying.
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