On March 10, I wrote about how Trump’s attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil might be overreach. Punishing someone for speech is not allowed in this country… on most occasions. I knew Khalil was a green card holder and assumed he had the same free speech rights as citizens. I didn’t know he agreed to and is subject to a different set of rules when he obtained his green card.
Section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets the rules. It says green card holders can be deported for endorsing terrorist activity and adds they’re out if their presence compromises U.S. foreign policy interests. No conviction needed. He’s still entitled to due process but if it’s proven his activities go against the law he can get the boot.
Khalil is supposedly the spokesperson for Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which wants the “total eradication of Western civilization”. He’s tied to campus chaos since October 7 where he passed out flyers praising Hamas’s attack on Israel. A Citizen can probably get away with this on free speech grounds but green card holders can’t. The law is pretty clear and Khalil should have known when he got obtained his green card.
Legacy media skipped all of this. No mention of CUAD’s radical stance or the details of the INA. All they dished out was Trump bashing or sob stories. The best coverage about this story is at The Free Press. Their post, “Both Left and Right Are Wrong About Mahmoud Khalil.”
I thought Trump might have over stepped. Now I’m not so sure. Give Khalil his due process and if he violated his agreement with our country then shove him out the door.
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