Shit's getting very real at Columbia: On Saturday evening, federal immigration authorities arrested Columbia University protester/graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder from a refugee camp in Syria (whose family is Palestinian) who technically has Algerian citizenship. (Reason's Matthew Petti actually interviewed Khalil several months ago and has more on his story.)
Khalil has an American wife who is eight months pregnant. It's not clear which specific laws he stands accused of breaking, and immigration authorities were initially confused as to whether he was on a student visa or a green card; as a lawful permanent resident, he has greater due process rights. More on this here, from Reason's Jack Nicastro.
He has been sent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Louisiana, where he is being detained. "The Trump administration's detention of Mahmoud Khalil—a green card holder studying in this country legally—is targeted, retaliatory, and an extreme attack on his First Amendment rights," the New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman declared in a statement. "Ripping a student from their home, challenging their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint will chill student speech and advocacy across campus. Political speech should never be a basis of punishment, or lead to deportation."
