Columbia protest leader's arrest tests immigrants' free-speech rights
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Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil talks to reporters last June. Photo: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
Federal agents' arrest of Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil — a lawful permanent U.S. resident with a green card — is being criticized by free-speech advocates who see it as a chilling escalation of President Trump's immigration crackdown.
Why it matters: The White House doesn't see Khalil's arrest as a First Amendment issue. It says his actions — helping to lead campus protests against Israel's treatment of Palestinians last year — run afoul of President Trump's recent executive order banning antisemitism.
- And in a move that critics say is aimed at silencing campus protesters, Trump's administration is indicating that Khalil's actions against U.S. foreign policy positions justify revoking his green card — a move that could lead to deporting him.
State of play: Green card holders — there are about 13 million in the U.S. — typically must break the law to be deported. There's currently no allegation that Khalil, a Syrian national, committed a crime.
- But the Department of Homeland Security has been investigating him and gathered evidence that he was actively supporting Hamas, but not materially supporting the terror group, a White House official said.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio was presented with evidence from the DHS review and determined that Khalil acted against U.S. foreign policy positions, the official said.
- U.S. law allows the secretary of state to deport a green card holder if that person is deemed to have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."
The latest: U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman on Monday blocked any attempt by the Trump administration to deport Khalil until the court says otherwise.
- A conference between the judge and all parties involved is scheduled for Wednesday in a Manhattan federal court.
The White House official said the decision to arrest Khalil was based on his public and private activities, but wouldn't say what those activities revealed about Khalil.
- DHS and the State Department didn't respond to requests for comment.
Khalil is being detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Louisiana.
- His attorneys have filed an emergency petition asking that he be returned to New York, where his the legal challenge to his detention is unfolding.
- Khalil's arrest "for his constitutionally protected activity that the administration disagrees with is not only patently unlawful, it is a further dangerous step into modern-day McCarthyist repression," Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said in a statement.
- Azmy's organization is one of the legal groups challenging Khalil's detention.
Zoom in: Free speech, even hate speech, is protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has backed this principle.
- "There's a question on what kind of 'support' [Khalil] was providing [Hamas], if any," said Will Creeley, legal director at FIRE, a free speech-focused legal advocacy group.
- "You can walk around and talk about how Hamas is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but unless you're providing material support to Hamas ... then you have the right to your view — no matter how offensive some, many or most Americans would find it," Creeley said.
- He added that if Khalil is accused of breaking a law, he'd still be entitled to due process. Creeley's group sent a letter to government agencies requesting more information about the grounds for Khalil's detention.
The intrigue: Khalil's arrest came days after Rubio posted on X that the U.S. had "zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists."
- He added that "violators of U.S. law — including international students — face visa denial or revocation, and deportation."
What they're saying: Khalil's arrest is "a blatant attack on the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech," the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said in a statement.
- CAIR said Khalil is being detained for "his peaceful, anti-genocide activism."
- "This arrest is unprecedented, illegal, and un-American," Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said in a statement.
The other side: "We appreciate the Trump administration's broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus antisemitism — and this action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions," the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) posted on X.
- "Those who sympathize with terrorism are unwelcome on our shores," Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said on X. "They will be denied entry or sent home."
What to watch: Trump said in a social media post that Khalil's arrest is the first of many to come.
- The White House official did not share which campuses or activists would be targeted next. The official said the crackdown would extend only to visa or green card holders, not to U.S. citizens.
