The case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and green card holder who was detained by immigration officials after participating in anti-Israel demonstrations on campus, has now become big national news. Those defending the government's efforts to deport Khalil argue that the authorities have the legal right to deport a noncitizen whose activism aligns with a terrorist group; skeptics are gravely concerned that the Trump administration is obviously violating the First Amendment.
"This is America," wrote the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in a statement. "We don't throw people in detention centers because of their politics. Doing so betrays our national commitment to freedom of speech."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Khalil last weekend and swiftly transferred him to a detention facility in Louisiana. A judge has temporarily halted his deportation and ordered the government to make its case before the court. Khalil is of Palestinian descent and holds Algerian citizenship; he initially entered the U.S. on a student visa but is now married to a U.S. citizen and is thus in possession of a green card.
