Student activist detained in the US

[Odras]

I find this a bit chilling. Peaceful protest should always be protected.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/ice-arrests-palestinian-activist-green-card-columbia-university/story?id=119616144

There won't be any clarity as the aim by people propagating that he's been charge is not to disseminate accurate information but to make people fearful of supporting Palestine.

Even CNN had to push back on a guest who spread these unconfirmed rumours (potentially opening him to being sued)

https://x.com/Acyn/status/1899289704945885531

Blakeman: He came here on a student visa. He's paid by a terrorist organization.. I have evidence

Phillip: Paid by who?

Blakeman: I didn’t ask my intelligence division who..

Navarro: You are saying things on National TV that you cannot corroborate.

I don't see any pro Hamas stuff there, just pro Palestine stuff,

Right at the beginning of the first linked article, CUAD mention a “tribute to Yahya Sinwar” and later describe him as “resistance leader” and “political prisoner” (rather than convicted criminal).
Even if you just skim read the links you must have noticed that surely?

Sinwar later became the architect of two of the greatest moments of Palestinian resistance in the past decade: 2018's Great March of Return and last year's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

Apologies I had not seen that bit. I'd agree that the USA are quite probably in their right then to deport anyone who has written that. That can be said to be supporting a terrorist attack for sure. I guess the argument will be whether this individual can be proven to have written that article, or does his association with the group make him guilty of support whether he wrote it or not - please note I mean from a legal pov not a moral pov.

I think if he didn't have a Green Card and wasn't married to a US citizen he's be on a plane back to Syria already. The green card will make it that the State have more of a legal battle to prove it I guess.

So it is against American law to support a terrorist group. Deportation can be legally initiated by the authorities if someone has taken part in certain criminal activity (including support of a terrorist group)

The key point here is that he has not (or not yet?) been charged with a crime.

That definitely has an uncertain legal basis for deportation.

OUTSIDE abortion clinics is fine. OUTSIDE the uni property, fine. ON uni property, occupying buildings and advocating for armed resistance, not fine, just like abortion clinic protestors are not allowed on clinic property. Protest in the US may only legally be held on public property, and unis are not public property.

His group, CUAD, in October 2024 issued a statement supporting "liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance," retracting an earlier apology for a member’s violent remarks and asserting that "violence is the only path forward" against oppression.

Green card holders can PEACEABLY (the Constitution's word) assemble, but they may not occupy buildings they don't own, hold other students hostage or advocate for violence.

If it is uncertain, I’m sure it will be the subject of a lot of legal wrangling, but the fact is you don’t have to be convicted of a crime to be deported.

I find it staggering when supporters of Hamas bang on about freedom of speech. How much time do they spend campaigning for freedom of speech in Gaza?

Well I personally don’t support terrorism so I’m not sure who are speaking off. I would absolutely support free speech in Gaza however I expect it of US with its strong constitutional protections of free speech. So that would be the difference there. I don’t think it is good enough to say well they don’t have free speech in Gaza so why expect it anywhere.

Yes that is true but supporting terrorism is a crime hence the shaky legal foothold.

Hopefully the matter will be settled by the courts either way.

It doesn't have to be criminal charges. Its expressly written into the immigration rules that "expression of support for a terrorist organization" is grounds for deportation. If he has been doing this, and it's claimed that he has, as well as disseminating leaflets in support of hamas, then he can be deported. This has always been the case. Its not a nefarious Jewish plot to deport people who protest against Israel. Protesting is fine, supporting hamas, who are a designated terrorist organization, is not. Simple as that.

Having said that, he is entitled to the correct legal processes and for the government to prove that he has done those things before being deported and I hope that this is the case here

I can see why anyone stating

"Sinwar later became the architect of two of the greatest moments of Palestinian resistance in the past decade: 2018's Great March of Return and last year's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood."

Might be problematic and get deported

I don’t think whatsoever that there is a nefarious Jewish plot to deport people.

I think this is very much a Trump administration thing. And I don’t think he cares a jot about anti-semitism either.

The If the situation is as he claimed and he has merely participated in peaceful protest then it will be interesting as a court will be deciding whether that constitutes support for Hamas.

The Trump administration didn't write the rules about immigrants not supporting terrorist groups. If it's true that this person has been handing out leaflets describing October 7 as a moral and military victory or similar, then they are well within their rights to deport him. Having a green card is a privilege. He is not a US citizen. If he has chosen to throw that away by supporting hamas then that's on him. I'm sure he's not the first to be deported under these rules.

I quite agree. His lawyers have had a hearing before a Federal judge today:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mahmoud-khalil-court-arrest-detention-immigration-green-card-rcna195990

His original visa application would have included an affirmation that he didn't support any designated terrorist organizations. That clearly was untrue, and his green card application can be voided for the same reason.

https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM030206.html

Yes - that sounds like a terrorist supporter to me.
Deportation is more than fair.
No peaceful country can tolerate people who promote terrorism.

Where exactly did he say this?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gp613029eo.amp

From the articel

His detainment has sparked nationwide protests. Outside of court, demonstrators chanted and waved flags in support of Mr Khalil and Palestinians. Among the protesters was actress Susan Sarandon, who told the BBC that Trump officials were trying to "disappear" Mr Khalil.
Mr Khalil's lawyer Ramzi Kassem said outside court that his case should "outrage anybody in the United States who thinks speech should be free".
US civil rights advocates, lawmakers and some Jewish groups have said that deporting Mr Khalil would violate American due process rights and is an attack on free speech.
The Immigration and Nationality Act allows the State Department to deport noncitizens who are "adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests" of the US. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the US could deport visa and green card holders for "virtually any reason".
Still, legal experts said the case against Mr Khalil is unprecedented.
"Targeting individual protesters just for protesting ... is highly unusual and something that we haven't seen before, even under the first Trump administration," said Jacob Hamburger, a visiting assistant professor at Cornell Law School.

Why has there been no repercussions for the US senator who when questioned about the deaths of Palestinian children responded with 'kill them all!'

The Trump administration are nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites and some people are too blinded by their hate of Palestinians to see it.

This is disinformation, people on this thread have taken this as gospel without doing any research. Not only did Khalid Mahmoud not say this but he also denied being the leader of this group.

"Activists supporting Israel have accused Mr Khalil of being a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad), a student group that demanded, among other things, the university to divest from its financial ties to Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza.
Mr Khalil has denied that he led the group, telling the Associated Press (AP) that he only served as a spokesperson for protesters and as a mediator with the university."

Conveniently they are leaving out the clause in the immigration statutes which specifically states that green card holders can be deported for "mere expression of support for terrorist organizations or terrorist activities; this also includes “foreign policy” as determined by the Secretary of State)"

If he has indeed been speaking and disseminating material in support of hamas, and the government have evidence of this, then it's an open and shut case.

To reiterate, he is NOT possibly having his immigration status revoked for protesting and exercising his right to free speech. Its because he seems to have openly been supporting a proscribed terrorist organization. Big difference.

I have just seen the judge has extended the ban and asked for the documents relating to his case be made public.

Correct. I linked to the statute up thread:

9 FAM 302.6-2(A) (U) Grounds
(CT:VISA-2014; 06-20-2024)
(U) INA 212(a)(3)(B)(i) renders ineligible any applicant who:
(1) (U) has engaged in a terrorist activity;
(2) (U) you know, or have reason to believe, is engaged in or is likely to engage after entry in any terrorist activity;
(3) (U) has, under circumstances indicating an intention to cause death or serious bodily harm, incited terrorist activity;
(4) (U) is a representative of:
(a) (U) a terrorist organization; or
(b) (U) a political, social, or other group that endorses or espouses terrorist activity;
(5) (U) is a member of a designated terrorist organization;
(6) (U) is a member of an undesignated terrorist organization, unless the applicant can demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that the applicant did not know, and should not reasonably have known, that the organization was a terrorist organization;
(7) (U) endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization;
(8) (U) has received military-type training from or on behalf of any organization that, when the training was received, was a terrorist organization; or
(9) (U) is the spouse or child of an applicant who is ineligible, if the activity causing the applicant to be found ineligible occurred within the last 5 years.

But he didn't write that. He has been accused online by several pro-israeli accounts as being the head of CUAD which he has categorically denied.

His position or lack thereof in CUAD isn't relevant to the government's case. His distribution of Hamas literature during the protests clearly endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.

His false declarations on his visa and green card applications void both and allow them to be revoked if that's how the government wants to proceed.

And which literature is this?