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Trump's Antisemitism Task Force Faces Litmus Test After Detainment Of Pro-Palestine Activist

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by blueapples
Monday, Mar 10, 2025 - 11:00

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Following an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump that launched a concerted effort to pursue students involved in last year's widespread protests against Israel across college campuses nationwide, the initiative was immediately met with concerns about how the it may infringe upon free speech protections. Just weeks following its passage, the detainment of a student involved in organizing protests on the campus of Columbia University should prove to be the litmus test for the constitutionality of the actions of Trump's task force on antisemitism. In its fact sheet detailing the parameters of the Executive Order, the task force conveyed its focus would be to revoke student visas of non-residents involved in protests. That intent already raised significant constitutional questions.

However, immigration authorities now face even greater scrutiny following the detainment of student organizer Mahmoud Khalil. The pro-Palestinian activist was not only enrolled at Columbia on a student visa but he is a Green Card holder and thus a legal permanent resident of the United States. His status as a permanent resident creates an added layer of complexity to his forthcoming deportation proceedings which will serve to set the threshold determining what constitutes speech that is not protected by the First Amendment for student visa holders involved in the protests.

Khalil was detained by ICE agents inside of his student housing on Saturday evening under State Department orders to revoke his student visa. During the arrest, Khalil contacted his attorney, Amy Greer, who informed the ICE agents that her client was a lawful permanent resident by virtue of being approved for a Green Card. When informed of his residency status, ICE agents responded by saying they were acting under orders to revoke his Green Card as well. According to Khalil's wife, her husband was not charged with any underlying crime when ICE agents took him into custody to be brought to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. A Columbia spokesperson responding to Khalil's detainment stated that any law enforcement agent must produce a warrant before entering the university's property but declined to confirm whether or not ICE agents provided one before he was taken into custody.

Even though a Green Card gives its holder lawful permanent residency in the United States and a path to citizenship, those living in the country under its auspices can still be deported. The Immigration and Nationality Act provides an exhaustive list of what non-citizens qualify for deportation. The act is codified into US law under 8 USC §1227. 8 USC §1227(2)(A)(i) lists the qualifications for a deportable alien under US law that are relevant to the Khalil. This subsection defines crimes of moral turpitude. Thus, the revocation of Khalil's Green Card ostensibly hinges on whether or not his activism in organizing pro-Palestinian protests on the Columbia campus constitutes any of the crimes defined under that subsection.

Khalil involved during protests on Columbia University campus last spring

Under 8 USC §1227(2)(A)(i), crimes of moral turpitude include multiple criminal convictions, aggravated felonies, failure to register as a sex offender, firearm offenses, domestic violence, drug offenses, and trafficking, among others. Perhaps the most relevant qualification for a crime of moral turpitude Khalil may be accused of committing is found under 8 USC §1227(2)(A)(i)(D) which lists miscellaneous crimes. The crimes listed under that subsection largely deal with criminal conspiracies related to espionage, sedition, and the like.

Champions of Trump's antisemitism task force have held that pro-Palestinian protests that visa holders have been engaged in are inherently advocating for the support of terrorist groups like Hamas. As such, ICE's argument for the revocation of Khalil's Green Card may be made on the grounds that he was in violation of 18 USC Ch. 115 which designations crimes relating to treason, sedition, and subversive activities such as support of a terrorist group. While a conviction of any crime under that law would make Khalil a deportable alien as defined by 8 USC §1227(2)(A)(i)(D), it still is not clear whether or not he has not been charged with any such offense before being taken into custody by ICE.

Camille Mackler, founder of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of legal service providers in New York, classified Khalil's detainment as "retaliatory action against someone who expressed an opinion the Trump administration didn’t like” in her own words. Since returning to the Oval Office, the Trump administration has amplified its efforts to combat "antisemitism" on college campuses. In response to growing pressure from the Trump administration, Columbia University implemented a new office tasked with bringing disciplinary charges against students involved in last spring's pro-Palestinian protests. Khalil is under investigation by that university office for alleged offenses that include coordinating an unauthorized march that allegedly glorified Hamas' role in the October 7th attack on Israel as well as for multiple social media posts criticizing Zionism. “I have around 13 allegations against me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with,” Khalil said in previous remarks to the Associated Press.

Columbia's attempts to instill a culture shift in line with the Trump administration's efforts about the supposed rise of antisemitism on college campuses proved to be too little, too late. Despite the university's pivot, the Trump administration cancelled $400 million in federal grants in response to the upheaval on its campus last spring. The administration announced the cancellation of those grants just days after students at Columbia were arrested for protesting on campus about the expulsion of students who participated in demonstrations against Israel. Those expulsions marked the first time in 57 years that the university expelled any students for protesting. Anti-Israel group Columbia University Apartheid Divest noted that the expulsion of those students ironically marked the first instance of a non-violent political protest leading to a student being expelled since 1936 when Robert Burke was expelled for protesting against Columbia’s ties to Nazism.

The case of Mahmoud Khalil is an important litmus test of the authenticity of the Trump administration's commitment to protecting free speech. Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump honed in on the rampant censorship and violations of free speech waged by the Biden administration and Democrats en masse. However, Trump also concurrently ran on the promise of deporting anti-Israel protesters. Nevertheless, the stance Trump's 2nd administration has taken against protests aimed at Israel is a glaring contradiction of the position of free speech absolutism it has otherwise espoused.

In 1886, the precedent set by the Supreme Court decision in the case of Yick Wo v. Hopkins affirmed that free speech and protections under the First Amendment applied to non-citizens of the United States. The application of those protections is thus conferred upon Khalil by virtue of his permanent residency status. However, the Trump administration has made it clear that what qualifies as free speech is viewed through a much more critical lens when it comes to criticism of Israel. That position follows a trend in Trump's second term where Israel proves to be the exception to every rule time and time again whether it comes to cutting foreign aid and military spending, subduing foreign influence on Washington, or championing the First Amendment.

For that reason, critics of Trump's antisemitism task force have expressed concern that its creation is another instance of the United States putting the interests of Israel ahead of its own country's. Given the high threshold that Mahmoud Khalil's permanent residency status requires any argument for his deportation to meet, proceedings against him will ultimately serve as the case study for how free the Trump administration actually treats free speech.

Contributor posts published on Zero Hedge do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Zero Hedge, and are not selected, edited or screened by Zero Hedge editors.
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