“We are horrified by the recent illegal abduction and now indefinite detention of Mahmoud Khalil — a U.S. legal permanent resident — by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents, and we unequivocally demand his immediate release from DHS custody,” a March 11 letter by 14 House Democrat members reads.
The letter continued:
Khalil has not been charged or convicted of any crime. As the Trump administration proudly admits, he was targeted solely for his activism and organizing as a student leader and negotiator for the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Columbia University campus, protesting the Israeli government’s brutal assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza and his University’s complicity in the suppression.
The co-signers include Muslim representatives Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and pro-migration politicians such as Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY). “We must be extremely clear: this is an attempt to criminalize political protest and is a direct assault on the freedom of speech of everyone in this country,” the Democrats declared.
Khalil is now being held for expected deportation. He was arrested at his dorm at Columbia University after President Donald Trump directed his deputies to deport terror-related activists.
Trump celebrated the arrest in a TruthSocial post on March 10:
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. 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. 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!
Trump and his deputies are on solid legal ground, according to immigration lawyers. Khalil is not a citizen but has a green card that allows him to live in the United States pending an expected request for citizenship. But the green cards provide little additional legal protection than that granted to tourists.
Some Democrats are zig-zagging between the party’s diverse coalition members, which include anti-Israel radicals and pro-Israel supporters.
“Absent evidence of a crime, such as providing material support for a terrorist organization, the actions undertaken by the Trump administration are wildly inconsistent with the United States Constitution,” said a statement from the Democrats’ leader in the House, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). “A judge has blocked this egregious removal pending further action and, along with Attorney General Letitia James, we will continue monitoring this developing situation closely.”
The Democrats’ leader in the Senate, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has kept quiet.
The Democratic leader in the House Committee on Homeland Defense, Rep. Bernie Thompson (D-MS) told MigrantInsider.com, “I believe in freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, and if this person is being picked up for doing that, I have a concern.”
The head of the pro-migration Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), was more cautious, saying, “I expect the Department of Justice to work within the confines of the law and that due process is guaranteed to him.” Espaillat is a former illegal migrant who has put pro-migration proposals at the top of the caucus’s agenda.
However, the Democrats’ allies are defending Khalil’s opposition to Israel’s counter-offensive against Hamas’s fighters deep in their Gaza stronghold.
NBC News reported:
Rallies are planned for Tuesday in at least two major cities as protesters continue to demand the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, whose arrest President Donald Trump said is the first of many.
A “Free Mahmoud Khalil” walkout was scheduled to take place at 11:30 a.m. at Columbia University in New York City, but a person with knowledge of the situation said efforts were being made to shift it to off-campus spaces. An event is currently scheduled for noon at City Hall and a march at 2 p.m. is planned at Washington Square Park.
Another rally is planned for 5:30 p.m. at Federal Plaza in Chicago. Protesters are also expected to gather at 5 p.m. at Stanford University in California.
“This seems like one of the biggest threats, if not the biggest threats to First Amendment freedoms in 50 years,” Brian Hauss, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union told the New York Times. “It’s a direct attempt to punish speech because of the viewpoint it espouses.”
The New York Times‘ news pages gushed on March 10:
Mr. Khalil’s friends said they were stunned to hear of his arrest, describing him as kind, expressive and gentle. He is someone who loves to dance, to read Arab poetry and to play Arab music, said Maryam Alwan, a friend and student who is a pro-Palestinian organizer on campus. He hosted dinners at his home, with Middle Eastern fare served.
“One of my friends last year was graduating and wasn’t able to get a graduation robe,” Ms. Alwan said. “He just gave her his.”
Mr. Khalil was born and raised in Syria because his grandparents were forcibly removed from their ancestral home in Tiberias, now part of Israel, according to his lawyers’ legal filing. He is Palestinian and graduated in December from Columbia with a master’s degree from the School of International and Public Affairs. He is married to an American citizen who is expecting their first child next month, his lawyer said.
In Khalil’s home country of Syria, the new Islamic regime has killed several thousand Christians and members of the Alawaite sect of Islam. Khalil’s parents were from the Palestine district near Israel, which recently inked a truce with Hamas under pressure from Trump, according to the New York Times.
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