Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest: Can he deport the Green Map holder now? | Israel-Palestine News of Conflict

The disputed arrest of Columbia Mahmoud Khalil University student, who played a key role in organizing Pro-Palestinian protests at the Ivy League campus last year, caused anger and caused concern about the protection of free speech in the United States.

Khalil, a 29-year-old Palestinian student, was arrested from a university residence in New York Gornji Manhattan during the weekend by immigration agents and customs execution (ICE), who said he would take away his permanent residence-subular known as the Green Card-Na request of the State Department. Although the federal charges against Khalil have not been filed.

“This is the first arrest of many to come,” President Donald Trump wrote on his social platform of truth on Monday, describing Khalil as a “radical foreign student of Pro-Ham.”

In his first week in the Presidency, Trump has committed himself to deport students who joined the protests against the Israeli war against Gaza who swallowed the US university campuses last year. Students demanded that universities give up the companies related to Israel and the ceasefire to complete the war that killed more than 61,000 people, according to the Government’s media office in Gaza’s belt.

Trump also threatened to stop federal financing of schools, colleges and universities if he allowed what he called “illegal protests.” For days before the arrest, Khalil, Trump, went to $ 400 million federal financing at Columbia University.

So, can a green cardboard be taken away? What protection does its owners have? And how does this fit into the broader context of student protests in the USA -in freedom of speech?

Who is Mahmoud Khalil?

Khalil served as a leading negotiator for Pro-Palestinian student protesters in Columbia-Uliog who demanded that he talk with university officials and media. Prior to his arrest on Saturday, Khalil told the Reuters news agency that he was concerned about the goal of the Government for talking to a press.

“Clearly Trump uses protesters as a sacrificial goat for his wider plan [of] Fighting and attacking higher education and education system Ivy League, “he told Reuters.

Khalil’s lawyer Amy Greer told her client for her client was intended for her political activism and opposition to Israeli politics. She added that Khalil did not commit any crime or violated the terms of his stay.

In media interviews, Khalil said his activism has no room for anti -Semitism.

“As a Palestinian student, I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand handle, and one you cannot achieve them without the other,” he told CNN last year.

“I always say that we are the lucky ones who have done here to speak for our people who are under oppression in Palestine and in refugee camps and Palestinian cities,” he said.

Khalil received his master’s degree from Columbia’s School for International and Public Relations in December 2024.

He got him a green ticket last year. His wife, who is a US citizen, is eight months pregnant.

The Palestinian student was born and grew up in Syria, where his grandparents moved after the escape of Tiberius, now in today’s Israel. More than 750,000 Palestinians ethnically cleaned the Jewish militia in the 1948 birth of Israel. Palestinians remember their expulsion from their homeland as Nakba, disaster.

He attended the University of Lebanese, earned a diploma from IT, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Khalil has previously worked at the British Embassy in Beirut from 2018 to 2022, according to the site of the Eye of the Middle East. He was a local manager for Syria Cheveling Scholarship, a prestigious government scheme of the United Kingdom.

Can he deport Khalil now?

Yes, but that would face legal challenges. Despite being called permanent residents and have similar rights to the US citizens, the bearers of green tickets are not completely immune from deportation, and their status can be revoked for certain limited conditions, according to the experts of Al Jazeera they spoke with.

These conditions include committing crimes, participating in fraud or are considered a threat to national security – and even then, a person may challenge the deportation orders in court.

However, political speech is not a valid reason for the recall, said Sarah Leah Whitson, the Executive Director of Democracy for the Arab world now (Zora).

“Green card holders are entitled to the same protection of the first amendment as we citizens,” she said. Whitson said Khalil’s arrest “was” a clear effort to make all the speech in support of Palestinian rights. “

In the case of Khalil, the burden of proof rests on the Government to prove that it has violated US immigration laws and to represent a threat to national security.

Zaha Hassan, a human rights lawyer, said Khalil seems to “stand out because of the attitudes he holds.”

“That would break his right to freedom of speech,” Hassan told Al Jazeera.

Hassan said that Trump’s administration seems to say that Khalil’s involvement in protests and his calls to interrupt the fire in Gaza amounted to support Hamas, which the US government determined the terrorist organization.

“The court will have to decide whether the speech that supports Palestinian freedom and human rights is the same thing as the support of terrorism according to the appropriate immigration statutes,” she said.

The Federal Court temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation. The next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Jenin Younes, Civic Freedom and Lawyer for Freedom of Speech, said the Government claims that Khalil is a threat to national security “on rather unclear bases: that the Government has a policy of fighting anti-Semitism around the world and a protest in Colombia, who helped Khalil organized by the encouraged anti-Ositic environment.”

Trump’s executive commands have been conceived to target alleged anti -Semitism at university campuses and even created a working group dedicated to suppressing the alleged anti -Semitic speech, which the campaigns say was used to target Israel critics.

This speech includes “various kinds of criticism of the state of Israel,” Younes explained.

Khalil did not publicly say anything that would support such accusations that were equated against him.

Because Khalil has not been charged and let alone convicted of a crime, which “cannot serve as reasons for deportation,” Younes said.

What protection do the owners of green tickets and foreign students do have?

Although the owners of green tickets have more rights than visa owners, they are not as protected as American citizens.

They can work and live permanently in the US, but certain legal offenses or government decisions can lead to the deportation procedure.

“Trump seems to test the water administration to see how far they can go in shortened civil freedoms,” Hassan said. “Immigrants and vulnerable groups that were the subject of discrimination and prejudice, in such cases there are simple goals.”

Foreign students, who usually hold F-1 visas, have less protection. They must adhere to strict immigration rules, including the limitations of political activities.

“It reported that the administration intends to implement AI technology for scanning accounts on foreign students’ social media,” Hassan said. “This would facilitate the intention of the administration to start after many more individuals.”

What exactly is Khalil’s accuse?

We don’t know. The accurate charges against him remain unclear, but US officials for Homeland Security have suggested that his activism may be concern for national security, although there is no clear evidence.

The Ministry of Homeland Security said that “Khalil led the activities aligned with Hamas” but did not charge him for a crime. State Secretary Marco Rubio said Trump’s administration “would revoke visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America to be deported.” However, the authorities have not yet provided evidence that Khalil was a Hamas supporter.

Khalil is held at the Central Center for Ice Processing in Louisiani in Jena, for which Younes suggests that the Government could be a deliberate move to separate him from his family as a means of “emotionally breaking him.”

“I doubt the government switched him to more conservative [favourable] Immigration judge. He is also harder for him to work with his lawyers, ”who are in the area of ​​New York and New Jersey, she said.

Jena is about 2,187 KM (1,359 miles) south of New York.

Charges of anti -Semitism in Columbia

The campsite, last year, was set up by student protesters at the Columbia campus, became the epicenter of the national campaign at US universities, asking Washington to stop his unconditional support from Israel, in the midst of a devastating war.

The protests resulted in mass arrests and suspensions of students, ending with the resignation of the University President, Minouche Shafik, a few months later.

Protests faced accusations of anti -Semitism, but groups for rights claim that these claims are used to combat criticism of Israeli policy.

The protests were focused on the condemnation of the Israeli military actions in the besieged Gaza belt and called for a deviation from the companies associated with the illegal Israeli settlements that violate Palestinian countries. Students demanded that the University discontinue financial relationships with organizations associated with the Israeli government and its defense industry.

From the arrest of Khalil, the movement moved and included the demands for its release. People have Cracked protests In New York, demanding his release.

There are more than 2.7 million people signed a petition that requires Khalil’s release.

Is this an attack on freedom of speech?

Khalil’s custody also causes serious ethical concerns about the boundaries of free speech and the role of the University when it comes to protecting their staff and students.

Activists, as well as the media, were alarmed while the punching saw as an attack on the protection of free speech from the first amendment.

The outcome of Khalil’s case could set an important precedent for other international students participating in protests.

If the US government is ultimately successful in its deportation mission to Khalil’s deportation, it is “a killer of unprecedented authoritarian decays of political speech,” Younes said.

His arrest has already created a “cold effect on the university campuses,” Whitson said, and he harmed countless students whose rights were violated.

“Universities have an obligation to ensure freedom of speech, freedom of protest and academic freedom,” she added.

“They should condemn the sanctions of Trump’s administration against the University, allow students and academics to speak and protest in accordance with their beliefs and ban on non-Campus police from any role in current protests.”

The US Congress Woman of Rashida Tloib called on the current release of Khalil.

“We have to be extremely clear: this is an attempt to criminalize a political protest and is a direct attack on the freedom of speech of all in this country,” said An an open letter Signed by 13 legislators, including Tlaib.

“Khalil’s arrest is an act of anti-Palestinian racism intended for the silence of the Palestine Solidarity Movement in this country, but this endless abuse of power and political repression is a threat to all Americans.”