NEW YORK CITY—On Saturday night, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents entered a student residential building at Columbia University in uptown New York and detained Mahmoud Khalil, one of the lead negotiators on behalf of pro-Palestine protesters at 2024’s Gaza solidarity encampment.
In a sweeping attack on the First Amendment, the Trump administration said this week it would begin revoking visas of “Hamas sympathizers,” specifically citing Columbia University students. The detention followed a two-day targeted online campaign against Khalil by pro-Israel groups and individuals, including Columbia’s high-profile pro-Israel professor, Shai Davidai.
Khalil’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, was with him at the time. A statement by the pro-Palestine group Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG) stated that he was “abducted and detained without the physical demonstration of a warrant or officially filed charges.” At the time of writing, Khalil is still being detained at a DHS facility in New Jersey, according to a database for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin and an American green-card holder, was detained by DHS officials around half past eight as he was entering the Columbia residential building he lives in. He was returning from an iftar, breaking the day-long fast observed by many Muslims during the month of Ramadan.
This isn’t just a visa, he has a green card. They want to revoke permanent residence for using your first amendment rights.
Today Palestinians tomorrow black after that women then white men
Queer people too. They’re already trying to revoke trans people’s documentation
They’ll find more ways to put people in ICE camps and in a few years they’ll find a “final solution” for all the people they’ve rounded up
I think this is behind the push to end Birthright Citizenship because then they can question anyone’s right to be here
Violation of the first amendment
“He’s not a US citizen, so the Constitution doesn’t apply to him. But since he’s here, he is subject to the full weight of US law.” - SCOTUS, probably
That would need a very quick way to obliterate a democracy. As previous Supreme Courts have pointed out, if all they have to do is revoke your citizenship, then nobody has any rights.
Without a doubt. It’s really too bad laws don’t seem to matter anymore.
But being Pro Palestinian is not Pro Hamas. There’s a difference.
To Zionists, anything working against their goals is terrorism.
Being pro-Hamas also wouldn’t be a crime, even if it’d be an asinine stance.
Let’s not forget that Netanyahu’s government is pro-Hamas for strategic reasons and it’s worked very well for them.
