Notes From Underground (#4)
The Concerning Case of Mahmoud Khalil
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
—Martin Niemöller
“The U.S. is trying to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident” (emphasis mine). That New York Times headline sounds like some crazy joke. Or a scene straight out of the famous Kafka novel The Trial. A perfect symbol of authority without accountability, an authority that simply bends people to its will through chaos and confusion.
Yet unfortunately, there is more to it than that.
On Saturday, immigration officers arrested Mr. Khalil and shipped him off to a detention center in Louisiana. Before his arrest, Khalil (a 30-year-old man of Palestinian heritage) had received a master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. After graduating in December, he had apparently settled down with his wife, who was 8 months pregnant at the time of his removal and imprisonment.
Why? Well, “that is not very clear.” While Secretary “Little Marco” Rubio recirculated a Homeland Security Department statement suggesting Mr. Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas,” no officials have actually accused Khalil “of having any contact with the terrorist group, taking direction from it, or providing material support to it.”
Which, by the way, is better than Donald Trump can say of his ties to (i.e., pardons of) January 6 treasonists like Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes.
Given all this, you may be asking, why go after a Palestinian graduate student from Columbia University on such flimsy evidence?
The short answer? During his time on campus, Khalil became known as a student leader in the protests against the “high civilian casualties of Gaza during Israel’s campaign against Hamas.” In the course of the student protests, Khalil often acted as a go-between for the protesters and the authorities.
From there, “Little Marco” Rubio used a provision of a little-known law from 1952, which states that “any ‘alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable’” (emphasis mine).
Is one young Palestinian and permanent resident of the U.S. really a “serious adverse” foreign policy and national security threat? To this Administration, yes. According to their reasoning, “the protests [Khalil participated in] were antisemitic and created a hostile environment for Jewish students at Columbia.” Furthermore, since the U.S. foreign policy involves fighting anti-Semitism worldwide, Khalil’s staying in the U.S. “undermines” U.S. foreign policy, “requiring” his removal from the country.
A bit of a stretch, isn’t it? Couldn’t this Administration use that same logic to deport those who oppose Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine to Putin? Or those who oppose Trump’s plans to turn Gaza into a rich men’s theme park/Netanyahu sunbathing destination? Or those who oppose Trump’s support of a radical right-wing Israeli takeover of the West Bank, against all norms of international law?
Methinks the Administration’s interpretation of that 1952 law is intentionally broad. Gee, I wonder why?
Let’s be clear: Khalil is a lawful permanent resident of the United States. Whatever you think of his political views, he too has rights that the Constitution protects, including the right to free speech and the due process protections of the Fifth Amendment. It is as simple as that.
But what could due process rights mean to a president that once floated the idea of “suspending” the Constitution?
Trump vowed this was “the first arrest of many to come.” I am sure that, if he had the opportunity, this would be. If we the American people let him get away with this, expect Trump’s powers to arrest people at will to expand. Remember the words of Martin Niemoller. If you wait until they come after you, then there will be no one left to stand by your side when the time comes.
So make your stand for free speech now. For the free speech rights of one are the free speech rights of all. And, to paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., “a threat to free speech anywhere is a threat to free speech everywhere.”
“In the name of democracy, let us all unite!”