Free speech and civil rights groups along with Democratic politicians are expressing outrage over the Trump administration’s recent arrest of the man who helped lead disruptive pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University over the last year.
“Mahmoud Khalil, 30, who graduated in December from Columbia with a master’s degree from its School of International and Public Affairs, was arrested by immigration officers in New York on Saturday and sent to a detention center in Louisiana. Mr. Khalil, who has Palestinian heritage, holds a green card and is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
A federal judge is currently reviewing a plea to halt Khalil’s deportation. Meanwhile, 14 Congressional Democrats are demanding his release, including “Squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
I’m joining 13 of my colleagues to demand that the Trump Administration immediately releases Mahmoud Khalil. Their illegal actions set a dangerous precedent. We cannot allow them to shred our constitutional rights to free speech and due process. Free Mahmoud Khalil. pic.twitter.com/G9YxBeDZvh
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) March 11, 2025
The ACLU has launched a “Free Mahmoud Khalil” campaign, arguing the First Amendment “does not allow the government to retaliate against anyone for their speech.”
“Ripping someone from their home, stripping them of their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence dissent. And that’s patently unconstitutional. Political speech – however controversial some may find it – may never be the basis for punishment, including deportation,” the ACLU stated.
Carolina DeCell, a senior staff attorney for the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia, told The Hill that “for green card holders in the United States, they’re entitled to almost the full scope of First Amendment rights that U.S. citizens are as well.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is also calling for answers from the Trump administration, stating in a letter: “Demonstrations occurring on Columbia’s campus since Oct. 7, 2023, have included both constitutionally protected speech and unlawful conduct, but the government has not made clear the factual or legal basis for Mr. Khalil’s arrest.”
“… This lack of clarity is chilling protected expression, as other permanent residents cannot know whether their lawful speech could be deemed to ‘align to’ a terrorist organization and jeopardize their immigration status.”
But the New York Times reports Trump officials may have a case:
The Trump administration did not publicly lay out the legal authority for the arrest. But two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio relied on a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that gives him sweeping power to expel foreigners.
The provision says that any “alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.”
President Trump defended the arrest on Truth Social on Monday, stating it’s “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. “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.”
Some pro-Israel accounts on X have also posted about Khalil’s actions at Columbia, arguing they went beyond peaceful political protests.
“Mahmoud Khalil led a student group that openly declared its mission was to ‘fight for the total eradication of Western civilization’ while taking instructions from terrorist organizations. How much more evidence do people need,” posted Eyal Yakoby on X.
The arrest came just after the Trump administration also pulled $400 million in federal funds from Columbia University, citing concerns over rampant and unchecked antisemitism at the Ivy League institution.
And in January, anti-Israel protestors barged into an Israeli history class at Columbia to pass out pro-Hamas flyers that showed the Star of David being destroyed.
As The College Fix also previously reported, a protest at Columbia last spring resulted in more than 200 arrests and prompted the university to cancel graduation. Then, in August, three administrators resigned after being caught mocking Jewish leaders and students in a series of texts, The Fix reported at the time.
Last year, the university also disciplined Jewish Israeli Professor Shai Davidai, suspending him from campus “for speaking out against anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-American terrorism,” according to his X profile.
Davidai, who teaches at the Columbia Business School, said an imam encouraged pro-Palestinian students on campus to “take [him] out” during an August webinar, The Fix reported.
MORE: ‘Crush Zionism’: Pro-Hamas protestors barge into Israeli history class at Columbia
IMAGE: Screenshot / X Senate Judiciary Democrats account
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.