House Democrats responded to the detention of anti-Israel activist and Columbia University alumnus Mahmoud Khalil amid rage that he could potentially be deported.
“Free Mahmoud Khalil!” D-Ill Rep. Deila Ramirez said at a press conference at Capitol Hill on Tuesday. He also said he is a critic of the Trump administration’s decision to detain him.
“This government believes they can target people in order to dare to oppose it, and believes they disagree with what the President is doing. We may not agree that he may not be told as a student in Colombia, but I think you will not agree with me, Ramierz said following the press conference.
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People will demonstrate outside Thurgood Marshall’s US court on March 12, 2025 on the day of hearings on detention of activists at Palace Beer University in New York City and graduate student Mahmoud Halil at Columbia University (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)
Other lawmakers told Fox News Digital that a legitimate process is required regardless of Khalil’s stance.
“We’ve written a few letters and so on,” Rep. Ami Bella said. “I think we must give everyone the right to a legitimate process, especially to those who are legal here as Colombian students. Let’s clearly stand for the law,” he added.
D-Fla. Others, including Rep. Lois Frankel, have expressed disagreement with Khalil’s views, but still believe his detention is a source of concern.
“I don’t like his position. I don’t like what he said. I don’t like the destructive students who try to go to school, but this is: This is a country. We should be democratic. Free speech lies in our constitution,” she said.
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Lisa Lieberwitz, a professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University and president of the Cornell chapter of AAUP, protested recent policy changes during a “emergency vigil” outside the gates of Columbia University. (Fox)
“And before someone is arrested, you should have a possible cause that could be good. You absolutely need full legal rights and legitimate procedures before someone is detained and deported,” she continued.
Halil, a 30-year-old green card holder who married a US citizen, was arrested by immigrants and customs enforcement officers on March 8th. In a court summary on Sunday, the US government outlined the argument that Halil will be detained while his removal proceedings continue.
The department says that Khalil was fraudulently applied to change immigrant status without fully revealing “membership of a particular organization.”
The Justice Department said Sunday that the fact that he allegedly lied to his application provided “independent grounds” to expel him and invalidated his right to free speech.
“Regardless of his claims regarding political speech, Halil withheld membership in certain organizations and did not disclose continued employment by the Syrian embassy of the British Embassy in Beirut. “It is black law that does not protect speeches.”
President Donald Trump himself supported the decision as a result of his administration’s crackdown and thanked immigrants and customs enforcement for detaining Halil in a true social post on March 10th.
Columbia faculty holds “emergency vigil” to protest the university’s response to Trump
Anti-Israel protesters hang a sign from Columbia University in New York City on Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
“After a previously signed executive order, Ice proudly arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, an extreme foreign pro-Hama student on the Columbia University campus, the first arrest of many to come.
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“Many are not students, not paying helpers. We find these terrorist sympathizers from our country, arrest them and deport them. We will never return. If we support terrorism, including the massacre of innocent men, women and children, your presence is against the interests of our nation and foreign policy and is not welcome here, the President added.
The Trump White House has taken $400 million in federal funds from Columbia University as universities progress to make money, resulting in a wave of camp-style protests that sparked last year. Another Colombian protester, Ranjani Srinivasan, was self-reported to India after lifting the student’s visa and Lekaa Kordia was arrested for allegedly staying on a student visa.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten from Fox News contributed to this report.
Cameron Arcand is a political writer for Fox News Digital at Washington DC.
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