Why We Should Have 1st Amendment Concerns About Trump Administration’s Treatment Of Mahmoud Khalil

Source: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / Getty

Look, no matter how one feels about pro-Palestinian protests or the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in general, if the curious case of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil doesn’t cause you concern over the future of the constitutionally protected First Amendment, you simply aren’t paying attention.

Over Saturday night, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents showed up at Khalil’s home at a Columbia University-owned apartment complex, where they arrested him after threatening to arrest his eight-month pregnant wife, his attorney, Amy Greer, told the Associated Press. Khalil has yet to be charged with a crime and there don’t seem to be any reported details regarding what laws he might have broken. What we have heard ad nauseam, however, are vague allegations leveled by President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other MAGA officials — who have made core political strategies out of propaganda presented with no evidence — that Khalil, a green card-holding permanent resident of the United States, is a “Hamas supporter” who organized an “unauthorized marching event” in support of the terrorist organization, and played a “substantial role” in the circulation of social media posts criticizing Zionism.

“I have around 13 allegations against me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with,” Khalil told AP last week.

“They just want to show Congress and right-wing politicians that they’re doing something, regardless of the stakes for students,” he added. “It’s mainly an office to chill pro-Palestine speech.”

Now, Trump and his minions in the State Department are threatening Mahmoud Khalil with deportation and the revocation of his citizenship. Even if one believes Khalil is a “Hamas supporter”  — a label white MAGA-fied conservatives have generally branded all pro-Palestinian protesters with — one would have to admit that moving to deport a U.S. citizen who has not yet been formally charged with a crime based on vague, unproven allegations is beyond putting the cart before the horse.

From AP:

Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that instead, according to the lawyer.

Meanwhile, on Monday, a federal judge in New York City ordered that Khalil not be deported while the court considered a legal challenge brought by his lawyers. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Wednesday.

AP noted that “Federal immigration authorities also visited a second international student at Columbia on Friday evening and attempted to take her into custody but were not allowed to enter the apartment, according to a union representing the student.”

You really can’t call yourself a patriot or an advocate for the U.S. Constitution if your MAGA allegiance has you turning a wilfully blind eye when Trump starts flirting with fascism like this. Before a sitting president and his administration’s top authorities start declaring that protesters are terrorists and that they will be arrested and deported — they should be ready and able to name a person’s crime. 

And, suffice it to say, if the rights of Khalil and other activists can so easily be revoked, so can yours, whoever you are.

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