I have found the news coverage and commentary lately so dispiriting I have had difficulty in rising to post anything at all. I thought I’d make some remarks about the arrest of Columbia University Mahmoud Khalil, presumably prior to his deportation. I thought the legal aspects of this case were discussed pretty well by Andrew R. Arthur in this post at the Center for Immigration Studies. Many are focusing on the First Amendment issues but, as the linked post makes clear, there are issues to consider other than freedom of speech. Here’s his conclusion:
As you can see, I’ve relied on a lot of suppositions and guesswork to get to the conclusion that Khalil was arrested by ICE because the secretary of State has concluded that his presence in this country “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.
If I’m right, expect to see the Trump administration rely more heavily on the foreign policy removal charge in section 237(a)(4)(C)(i) of the INA in response to pro-Hamas activity in the United States — and also expect a raft of legal challenges to follow.
I suggest you read the enter post. It’s not terribly long and quite informative.
Going beyond the legal and human rights issues at stake in this case, one of the things that struck me was how well this particular case supported my views of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s a “wicked problem“. As I see it there are only three possible resolutions of the conflict: the Israelis can kill all of the Palestinians or expel them from their homes, the Palestinians and kill all the Israelis or expel them from their homes, or their can be a negotiated between Israelis and Palestinians.
Clearly, Hamas is a major impediment to the third alternative (negotiation). Its explicit raison d’être is the second resolution. Does the full-throated, unconditional, uncritical support of the U. S. government for Israel make the third alternative more likely? I don’t think so. I think it’s a barrier to the Israelis negotiating. I suspect that the sad reality is that our interests in the conflict are more domestic political ones than they are any particular commitment to either the Israelis or the Palestinians but they are domestic political interests held both by Republicans and Democrats.
There is, of course, another way of looking at this case. Do we really want to import professional activists from other countries into the United States? I don’t think so. The number of hypothetical comparisons is practically endless. How do you think the United States would have acted if a Nazi activist were granted a student visa and spent his time agitating against our support for Britain in 1940?
That in turn raises another question. Is it possible for a Palestinian to be pro-Gazan without being pro-Hamas? Given that Hamas is in fact the elected government of Gaza I think the answer is “no”.
There was actually quite a bit of support for the Nazis before WW 2. A student agitating against our support for Britain or directly supporting the Nazis would have had a number of organizations he could readily join. Father Coughlin blamed the Jews for Kristalnacht. Moore recently Americans vigorously opposed the US war in Iraq. Many got canceled for that, some lost jobs, but I dont think anyone got arrested.
“Would have serious policy consequences” is so vague you could arrest/deport anyone. Note that your article claims it has been used rarely and, apparently, the last time was in 1996 for a Mexican politician who brought money illegally into the US and was arrested shortly after arriving. Doesnt really sound analogous to someone with a green card married to an American. Also, note that the Trump admin has disappeared the guy. Wife cannot find out where he is.
https://time.com/5414055/american-nazi-sympathy-book/
Steve
The legal arguments that Khalil can’t be deported which I’ve read boil down to the courts ruling the provision in the immigration law is unconstitutional. I don’t see the courts invaliding the statute, nor second-guessing the Secretary of State’s findings on a foreign policy matter.
I thought the CIS link was interesting in that Biden “paused” funding of UNRWA a year ago, a from what I can tell the government didn’t pay the $30,000 left on the appropriation at the time of the pause. On July 25, 2024, Senator Coons had an appropriation bill which would have authorized UNRWA to receive past appropriations if the President certified that the organization had taken various steps to vet staff and follow the guidance of an independent audit of its neutrality and ethics obligations. This bill did not pass, and it doesn’t sound like Republicans would have supported it if it arose in some other bill, so I wonder if they got their $30k.
Comparisons of this Palestinian activist to pre-WWII Nazi activists is appropriate though I doubt he’s “disappeared “, more likely than not subject to extraordinary rendition, and his spouse will be notified in due course of his location and charges if any.
@Grey, he was moved to Louisiana. His lawyers knew within a few hours. He probably was moved to Louisiana because sanctuary cities and states have policies hostile to immigrant detention and most of the capacity these days is in a belt running from Texas to Georgia.
Added: It looks like he initially was being held in the Federal Building in lower Manhattan. That was almost certainly always intended to be temporary, and probably why the judge didn’t order his “return,” but that he not be removed from the country.
Sigh, Corrections:
March 8th, Khalil arrested at 8:35 PM; booked at the federal building in Manhattan at 8:45 PM. This facility does not have beds, he was taken to a booking room to be entered into the system and given his notices.
March 9th, Khalil arrives at the detention center in Newark at 2:20 AM. He departed the facility at 11:30 AM for a flight to Louisiana and arrived at the Louisiana facility on March 10, at 12:33 AM.
Khalil’s attorneys filed the habeas petition in New York on March 9th at 4:41 AM, when Khalil was in New Jersey.
The government has moved to dismiss the case for improper venue or transfer it to Louisiana. The government did not object to the judge’s order that Khalil not be removed from the U.S. I think the case gets moved to Louisiana with a very outside chance of New Jersey.