Khalil’s arrest in the wake of an executive order to crack down on antisemitism on U.S. campuses
On Tuesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the decision to arrest Khalil, a green card holder who is of Palestinian descent, fell in line with President Trump’s recent executive order aimed at cracking down on antisemitism on U.S. campuses. The order allows the administration to revoking visas and deport international students if they are determined to be pro-jihadists.
The arrest follows through on one of President Trump’s executive actions, which directed the government to use all of its tools to punish those who have engaged in “antisemitic harassment and violence.” The federal law authorizes the deportation of a foreign national who supports terrorist activity.
The move is an escalation in Trump’s effort to increase deportations from the U.S. and strip protections from those who violate the new administration’s priorities.
The move to strip a green card from a foreign student in the hopes of deporting him violates trust that foreign students have in the US, according to a mathematics professor.
“They come because of their trust and belief that they could speak out freely while they’re here and not be imprisoned or harassed because [of] their political speech or activism or advocacy,” Thaddeus said.
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.
If I’m a permanent resident in removal proceedings, most of the time it’s due to a criminal activity, and only an immigration judge can take away my green card, according to the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
In an immigration court, Stump adds, “the government bears the burden of proving the reason that this person is deportable from the United States. So, based on what ground we’re looking at, that’s where the fight ensues.
Separately, in a post on X, Secretary of State Marco Rubio linked to a story about Khalil’s arrest and wrote the administration would be revoking the visas or green cards of Hamas supporters so that they can be deported.
Mahmoud’s Rightful Way: Towards a Resolution of the Student’s Unexpected Outrage over the Charged Khalil
“We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud’s rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable – and calculated – wrong committed against him,” Greer said in a later statement.
Groups planned rallies and gatherings around Manhattan on Monday to show protest over Khalil’s arrest. Thaddeus, the professor, said the campus community was surprised ICE’s first target was someone with a green card, rather than someone without legal status, calling it “horrifying and a little bit unexpected.”
Law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, like University buildings, the statement said. Columbia supports the student body and community by complying with all legal obligations.
Trump took steps toward limiting visas for foreign nationals and denaturalizing naturalized U.S. citizens in his first term.
The experts said there is a small chance that people would lie on forms compared to the millions of people who get green cards each year.
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Observation of the March 7, 1965 “Bloody Sunday” protests in Alabama: James ” Spider” Martin and Canada’s next prime minister
The House Speaker unveiled a 99-page stopgap bill to keep the federal government running through September. Congress must approve a bill by Friday or face another government shutdown.
Mark Carney was the new leader of the Liberal Party in Canada. He will take over when Canada faces a confrontation with the U.S. as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves office. He is expected to be sworn in early this week.
James ” Spider” Martin was hired to photograph the protests in Alabama after the death of civil rights activist Jimi Lee Jackson. The demonstrations culminated on March 7, 1965, a day that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” On that day, the activists attempted to peacefully march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and reach Montgomery, Alabama. Law enforcement attacked 600 of the protesters with billy clubs and tear gas. A lot of Martin’s photographic archive has been restored. Here’s a look at the photos.
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Whether you’re considering a new career or moving to a different city, there are exercises that can help you make difficult decisions more clearly. Art Markman, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said to be curious and it will lead you to find out that life is even more interesting than you thought. If you’re ready to make a big decision, you can answer these questions from Kit Life’s experts.
The Columbia University Apartheid Divest group was the focus of the allegations against Khalil. He faced sanctions for potentially helping to organize an “unauthorized marching event” in which participants glorified Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and playing a “substantial role” in the circulation of social media posts criticizing Zionism, among other acts of alleged discrimination.
ICE agents threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife who is eight months pregnant as they arrived at his house Saturday night.
Khalil’s attorney said they were initially informed that he was being held at an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. When his wife tried to visit Sunday, she realized he was not there. She did not know what his location was as of Sunday night.
“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer told the AP. “This is an action that escalates.” The administration is keeping its threats.
A Columbia University spokesperson said law enforcement agents must produce a warrant before entering university property, but declined to say if the school had received one ahead of Khalil’s arrest. The spokesperson declined to comment on Khalil’s detention.
New York judges will hear the case of a student protesting against the Ivy League school’s anti-Semitism
The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation proceedings against green card holders for a broad range of alleged criminal activity, including supporting a terror group. Immigration experts say the case of a legal permanent resident who was not charged with a crime was an extraordinary move that had an uncertain legal foundation.
“This has the appearance of a retaliatory action against someone who expressed an opinion the Trump administration didn’t like,” said Camille Mackler, founder of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of legal service providers in New York.
The graduate student from Columbia’s school of international affairs served as a negotiator for students as he worked to end the tent campsite on campus last spring.
The role made him one of the most visible activists in support of the movement, prompting calls from pro-Israel activists in recent weeks for the Trump administration to begin deportation proceedings against him.
The investigations come on top of the fact that the Trump administration has already threatened to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from Columbia because of what the government claims was the Ivy League school’s failure to squash antisemitism.
“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.”
A judge in New York will be hearing the case of a man facing deportation, after his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for participating in a protest at Columbia University.
Khalil’s lawyers have filed a habeas corpus challenge to his detention; District Judge Jesse Furman set a hearing for Wednesday, ordering that Khalil “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until” the court rules otherwise.
“You’re not a U.S. citizen, but you’re the next level down, meaning that you have the rights to live, work, travel in the United States,” says Kelli Stump, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
“The First Amendment does not distinguish between citizens and non-citizens,” says Cole, who successfully represented Palestinian clients in a lengthy First Amendment case.
For people who aren’t citizens, there is a risk in protesting if you think it’s a protest.
In his view, it’s unclear exactly where the government might draw a line between publicly espousing pro-Palestinian views and what it views as supporting terrorism.
On Monday, the president said his administration would find and deport terrorist sympathizers from the country.
“The government has a lot of power over non-citizens in terms of how it charges them under the immigration law, which is a civil law, not a criminal law,” Dzubow says. There is less defense.
A civil case might not sound as imposing as a criminal case. The stakes can be higher under civil law, and defendants often have less rights than in criminal cases.
Such detainees don’t have the right to an attorney, for instance, meaning that while they can pay for their own lawyer, the government isn’t obliged to provide them with one.
“There’s just less protection available” for a green card holder like Khalil, Dzubow says. “And he doesn’t need a criminal conviction to be deported for supposedly espousing terrorist activity.”
The distance makes it difficult to gather evidence and witnesses that might help a case of a detainment.
Khalil’s arrest: A reminder of the issue of Israel’s “peaceful” Israeli-Israeli-Hamas deportation
He also suggested the move could be a type of what’s called “forum shopping,” in which a party seeks a favorable court venue. In a deportation case, attorneys may consult the TRAC Immigration website, which tracks how often immigration judges deny asylum.
Columbia was a place of political division in its student body because of the war between Israel and Hamas. Last fall pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged massive protests on the campus, eventually resulting in arrests and the university moving its classes fully remote for the rest of the spring term.
Khalil’s arrest came just a day after the administration canceled $400 million in federal grants to Columbia, saying the school failed to curb antisemitism on its campus.
He said that all he has ever done is try to draw attention to the issue of genocide against Palestinians. The executive branch doesn’t have to decide if a speech is offensive or not. The principle of American democracy is more important than ever.
Baher Azmy is the legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, one of the groups representing Khalil. In an interview with NPR, he characterized Khalil’s arrest as a “chilling use of executive power,” and rejected claims that Khalil engaged in activity that could be deemed antisemitic.
After being taken into custody in his apartment building on Saturday by ICE agents, he is now being held in a prison in Louisiana.
Source: White House says immigration officials are seeking more pro-Palestinian protesters
Pro-Palestinian Protesters, Pro-Semitianism, and the Work of the Depth of Homeland Security in the Leavitt Era
While Leavitt did not offer an estimate of how many additional arrests could be coming, she said she knew that “DHS is actively working on it.” The school refused to assist the DHS due to the fact that Columbia had been given names of individuals who were engaged in pro-Hamas activity.
Since the President signed that executive order, they have been using intel to identify individuals on our nation’s college campuses, who have engaged in such behavior and activity.
The White House is defending the arrest of a leader of pro-Palestinian protesters and the Department of Homeland Secuirty plans to arrest more protesters moving forward.