Newly launched video of Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers detaining scholar activist Mahmoud Khalil undermines the company’s justifications for arresting him with out a warrant. President Donald Trump had beforehand touted the arrest as proof his administration is combating terrorism.
Left-leaning information outlet Zeteo on Monday revealed the Columbia College safety video taken on March 8, which was acquired by Khalil’s authorized workforce, and it reveals the pro-Palestinian activist peacefully interacting with ICE brokers as they arrested him.
The Division of Homeland Safety had beforehand claimed in a courtroom submitting that Khalil was arrested with out a warrant as a result of brokers believed he “was a flight risk,” which made the arrest essential. The brand new video undermines that key declare.
Trump hailed the arrest of Khalil in a March 10 put up to his Fact Social account.
“Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University,” Trump wrote. “We’ll discover, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympa
thizers from our nation—by no means to return once more.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio additionally highlighted Khalil’s arrest in a March 9 put up on X, writing, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has described Khalil’s arrest as “unlawful” and “a frightening escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to silence speech of which they are critical.”
The group additionally notes that the First Modification protects speech, and that the federal authorities doesn’t have the authority to deport individuals for speech it doesn’t agree with. Trump and different Republicans have continuously voiced opposition to the Palestinian trigger.
The Trump administration’s instances in opposition to pro-Palestinian advocates have continued to face setbacks.
In April, a federal choose ordered the discharge of scholar advocate Mohsen Mahdawi, who had been arrested underneath comparable circumstances to Khalil. Rümeysa Öztürk, a doctoral scholar at Tufts College who was kidnapped by ICE in March, was launched in Could. The one obvious purpose for Öztürk’s detention was an op-ed she wrote in a scholar newspaper advocating human rights for Palestinians.
The push to punish free speech has been led by Rubio, who, in an April interview, hypocritically criticized different nations for jailing individuals for voicing their opinions. Proper now, the courts and attorneys are offering essentially the most strident response to Rubio’s campaign, licensed by Trump, and they’re profitable.
