The case of a student protesting Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza: “The fight against the Green Card” by Mahmoud Khalil

Khalil, who was awaiting his diploma this spring, was one of the pro-Palestinian student protesters who negotiated on behalf of Columbia students last year as they protested Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and demanded that the university divest from Israel.

The arrest follows through on one of President Trump’s executive actions, which directed the government to use all of its tools to punish those who have engaged in “antisemitic harassment and violence.” The executive action cites the federal law that authorizes deporting a foreign national who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity.”

More deportations are in the works for the US, as well as removing protections from those who violate the new administration’s priorities.

Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia University, said the move seeking to strip Khalil’s green card and deport him violates the broader trust from foreign students who come to study in the U.S.

“They come because of their trust and belief that they could speak out freely while they’re here and not be imprisoned or harassed because [of] their political speech or activism or advocacy,” Thaddeus said.

One of the ICE agents who spoke with her said that they were acting on orders from the State Department to take down a student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that instead, according to the lawyer.

Green card status can be revoked — as in cases where someone has obtained that status by fraud, or they commit serious crimes. The government also has broad powers under anti-terrorism laws, including the ability to block entry or remove a non-citizen.

The government has to prove the reason for this person being deported from the United States. And then just depending on what ground we’re looking at, that’s where the fight ensues.”

If international students were found to have expressed anti-Semitic views, they would be deported. The president called the man a radical foreign pro-harassed student in a post on Monday.

“We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud’s rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable – and calculated – wrong committed against him,” Greer said in a later statement.

The ICE Trial: A Good Morning After Khalil’s Arrest and Everybody’s Tuning in to the Up First Podcast

Several groups planned rallies and gatherings around Manhattan on Monday in protest of Khalil’s arrest. Thaddeus, the professor, said the campus community was surprised ICE’s first target was someone with a green card, rather than someone without legal status, calling it “horrifying and a little bit unexpected.”

“Consistent with our longstanding practice and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including University buildings,” the statement said. “Columbia is committed to complying with all legal obligations and supporting our student body and campus community.”

At the end of his term, Trump created a section within his Justice Department to focus on denaturalization. The New York Times reported at the time that about 40% of the 228 denaturalization cases the DOJ had ever filed were brought during Trump’s four years in office.

Immigration law experts say that there is only a small number of people who lie on forms compared to the millions who receive green cards each year.

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PHOTOS FROM THE 1965 BLOody Sunday Protests: Mark Carney, Muhammad Mahmoud Khalil, and the Next Prime Minister

House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a 99-page stopgap bill over the weekend to keep the federal government running through September. There is a Friday deadline for Congress to approve a bill or else there will be another government shutdown.

Former Canadian central banker Mark Carney won yesterday’s leadership contest for Canada’s Liberal Party by a landslide. He will replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is leaving office as Canada faces a confrontation with the U.S. He is expected to take the oath of office this week.

James ” Spider” Martin was assigned to photograph the weekslong protests in Alabama after troopers killed civil rights activist Jim Lee Jackson. The demonstrations culminated on March 7, 1965, a day that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” On that day, activists attempted to peacefully march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on their way to Montgomery, Ala. Law enforcement attacked 600 of the protesters with billy clubs and tear gas. Much of Martin’s photographic archive from the protests has recently been restored. Here are some of the photos.

Source: House Republicans propose plan to avoid shutdown. And, Canada’s next prime minister

Kit Life: How to Be Curious About Your Career or Moving to a New City: Ask the Experts at Utainment

If you’re considering a new career, or if you’re moving to a different city, there are plenty of exercises that can help you make the right decision. Markman, the professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, said that being curious can open you up to the idea that life can be more interesting than you think. Take a pen, a notebook, and a calendar and answer these questions from Kit Life’s experts if you want to make a big decision.

McLaughlin alleged that the arrest was connected to the protests, and that the suspect was aligned with Hamas.

The ICE agents who arrived at the Manhattan residence Saturday threatened to arrest the American citizen pregnant with Khalil’s child.

The lawyer said that they were initially told that he was being held in New Jersey. But when his wife tried to visit Sunday, she learned he was not there. Greer said she still did not know Khalil’s whereabouts as of Sunday night.

“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer told the AP. It is clear that there is an escalater. The administration has kept its threats.

The school declined to say if it had received a warrant ahead of the arrest of the suspect, despite the fact that law enforcement agents must produce warrants before entering property. The spokesman wouldn’t comment on the case.

Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation case for the aforesaid Trump administration: An immigration lawyer’s perspective

The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation proceedings against green card holders for a broad range of alleged criminal activity, including supporting a terror group. According to immigration experts, the decision to hold a lawful permanent resident who has not been charged with a crime was atypical and uncertain.

“It looks like a payback action against someone who expressed an opinion against the Trump administration”, said Mackler, founder of Immigrant ARC.

Khalil, who received his master’s degree from Columbia’s school of international affairs last semester, served as a negotiator for students as they bargained with university officials over an end to the tent encampment erected on campus last spring.

The role made him one of the most visible activists in support of the movement, prompting calls from pro-Israel activists in recent weeks for the Trump administration to begin deportation proceedings against him.

As the investigations are happening, the Trump administration has followed through on its threat to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Columbia because of the school’s failure to combat antisemitism.

He said that they wanted to show Congress and right-wing politicians that they’re doing something, regardless of the stakes for students. “It’s mainly an office to chill pro-Palestine speech.”

A New York federal judge is set to hear pivotal questions in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of large Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University who now faces deportation after his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Khalil’s lawyers have filed a habeas corpus challenge to his detention; District Judge Jesse Furman set a hearing for Wednesday, ordering that Khalil “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until” the court rules otherwise.

If you are not a US citizen, but you are the next level down, you can live and work in the U.S. according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Cole was successful in representing Palestinians in a First Amendment case, and he says the First Amendment does not distinguish between citizens and non-citizens.

There’s a risk in protesting for people who aren’t US citizens, according to the partner at Murray Osorio, who is an immigration law firm.

It’s not clear what the government would consider pro-Palestinian views and support of terrorism to be.

The first case will be Khalil’s, said Trump. He said he would find, arrest, and deport the terrorists from our country.

The Immigration Law is not a Criminal Law: Deportation without a Green Card for supposedly espousing terrorist activity would be a forum shopping

The Immigration law gives the government a lot of power, and it is not a criminal law, Dzubow says. “There’s less defenses.”

A civil case might not sound as imposing as a criminal case. But the stakes can often be just as high — and under civil law, defendants have fewer legal rights than they would in a criminal case, he says.

Detained inmates don’t have the right to an attorney because the government isn’t obliged to provide one.

Dzubow says there’s less protection available for a green card holder. “And he doesn’t need a criminal conviction to be deported for supposedly espousing terrorist activity.”

Dzubow says the distance is making it harder to gather evidence and witnesses that might prove a case.

He also suggested the move could be a type of what’s called “forum shopping,” in which a party seeks a favorable court venue. In a deportation case, for instance, lawyers might consult the TRAC Immigration website which tracks how frequently immigration judges deny asylum claims.

Pro-Palestinian Demonstration in Columbia: A Case of “Understanding Executive Power and the Executive Branch at the Higher Education Institution,” says Azmy

Columbia was a site of significant political division within its student body in response to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged large protests at the university last fall and caused the university to move its classes remotely for the rest of the spring term.

The administration canceled $400 million in grants to Columbia due to the school failing to curb antisemitism on its campus.

“All he has ever done is advocate for the human rights of Palestinians and try to draw attention to the urgent issue of an ongoing genocide against Palestinians,” he said. “The executive branch does not get to decide what speech they think … is offensive and punishable. That principle couldn’t be more central to American democracy.”

Baher Azmy is the legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights. In an interview with NPR, he said that his arrest was a chilling use of executive power and that he did not engage in activity that could be classified as antisemitic.

He was arrested Saturday by ICE agents in his apartment building at the University of Alabama and is currently being held in a jail in Louisiana.

While Leavitt did not offer an estimate of how many additional arrests could be coming, she said she knew that “DHS is actively working on it.” The school has refused to help the Department of Homeland Security in their investigation, despite the fact that Columbia had given names of other individuals who engaged in pro-Hamas activity.

“Since the President signed that executive order, and since Secretary [Kristi] Noem has taken the oath at DHS, they have been using intelligence to identify individuals on our nation’s colleges and universities, on our college campuses, who have engaged in such behavior and activity, and especially illegal activity,” Leavitt said.

The White House is defending the arrest of pro-Palestinian protest leader and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, and says the Department of Homeland Security plans to arrest more protesters moving forward.