Did you know that Trump had a legal resident arrested and jailed because he didn't like his politics?

Question

abc3643 · Accepted Answer

Well, in actuality, that Green Card holder did likely violate the law that allows him to maintain his residency here. However, the Executive Branch should not be able to unilaterally change that status. The alien needs to have due process under the Justice System.

The WSJ in their editorial yesterday discusses it...

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/mahmoud-khalil-green-card-trump-administration-cuad-columbia-israel-hamas-ecdc4424?mod=opinion_trendingnow_article_pos4

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Mahmoud Khalil and His Green Card
Terrorist support is cause for revocation, but not unpopular speech.
By The Editorial Board, March 12, 2025 5:59 pm ET

The Trump Administration’s decision to revoke the green-card immigration status of anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil is becoming a cause celebre, for better and maybe worse. Mr. Khalil may deserve deportation, but he also deserves due process, and revoking green cards as a policy would have costs beyond any individual’s fate.

The latter is what Mr. Trump seems to have in mind. “This is the first arrest of many to come,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country—never to return again,” he elaborated on X. com. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted that the Administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

The deportation of green-card holders shouldn’t be taken lightly. They are permanent residents who sought legal approval and were vetted through official channels. Millions of people consider the green card a guarantee of secure U. S. residency and build their lives around it. The Khalil case has many green-card holders wondering if they could also be grabbed and deported for espousing controversial political views. That’s why the facts of his case and a day in court matter.

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A green card comes with legal obligations, including the disavowal of terrorism. Under 8 USC 1182, an alien is “inadmissable” if he or she “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity” or is “a representative of. . . a political, social, or other group that endorses or espouses terrorist activity.”

Mr. Khalil seems to have violated that obligation. He belongs to Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) and was a lead negotiator during last spring’s anti-Israel encampment on the campus. Those protests glorified Hamas. CUAD was also a key player in the school’s encampment, which was a “Zionist-free zone,” a designation that excluded Jews from a large part of campus.

In October 2024, CUAD formalized its support for Hamas and again celebrated the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre. In a statement revoking an apology the group had made for the remark of member Khymani James that “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” the group said that apology didn’t represent “CUAD’s values or political lines.” The group added, “We support liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance.”

Mr. Khalil understood his legal risks. In October 2024, he said “I am here on a foreign visa, that’s why for the past six months I’ve barely appeared on the media.” He told the BBC that Columbia briefly suspended him in April 2024 but quickly reversed itself, which allowed him to retain his student visa.

Mr. Khalil is now married to a U. S. citizen, which typically provides a path to citizenship. His wife is also eight months pregnant. But Mr. Khalil knew what he was doing, and living in a free society means taking responsibility for one’s actions.

This is where due process comes in. The government is required to provide a specific legal basis for Mr. Khalil’s detention and for revoking his green card.

In a March 10 letter to Mr. Rubio and other Trump officials, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression wrote that the government must not use immigration enforcement to “punish and filter out ideas disfavored by the administration.” A federal judge on Wednesday extended his order preventing Mr. Khalil’s deportation, and Mr. Khalil is also entitled to a hearing in immigration court.

All of this would have been far less fraught if Columbia had taken disciplinary action, including expulsion, against protesters who targeted Jewish students, occupied campus buildings and violated campus rules and civil-rights laws. Foreign students would have lost their student visas, facilitating their deportation, and Columbia wouldn’t have emboldened groups like CUAD and Students for Justice in Palestine.

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In that sense, the Trump Administration’s decision to withhold $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia for failing to protect Jewish students is important discipline. But the case against Mr. Khalil will depend on the facts of his support for Hamas.

President Trump has often said the U. S. needs talented immigrants, and a green card is crucial to the process of becoming a permanent resident and perhaps a citizen. The Administration needs to be careful that it is targeting real promoters of terrorism, and not breaking the great promise of a green card by deporting anyone with controversial political views.

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By the way, this is the statute cited in the article:

UNITED STATES CODE
TITLE 8 - ALIENS AND NATIONALITY
CHAPTER 12—IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY (§§ 1101 – 1537)
SUBCHAPTER II—IMMIGRATION (§§ 1151 – 1382)
Part II—Admission Qualifications for Aliens; Travel Control of Citizens and Aliens (§§ 1181 – 1189)
§ 1182. Inadmissible aliens

It's a long statute. The relevant text is under Subsection (a) Paragraph (3) Subparagraph (B).

This would be written:
8 USC § 1182(a)(3)(B)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1182

exitseven · Accepted Answer

Yes he did. And as it turns out it is perfectly legal. He is here on a visa which can be revoked for no reason. He can go back to Palestine. He has an American wife and a baby. Tom Homan said that he will not split up families. They all can be deported.

Amy10223 · Accepted Answer

Yes. Because he participated in a peaceful protest. He was arrested for that reason alone. And the Jan 6 rioters who stormed the Capitol Building and seriously hurt police offices were pardoned by Trump. Makes sense, right? This recent arrest reminds me very much of communist Cuba, where whomever spoke against Castro was jailed.

It took only one month and a few days for Germany to become Nazi Germany before WW2.

goaded · Answer

Yes. Yes, I did!

DryGermanGuy · Answer

May you live in interesting times:

SolitarySolace · Answer

Do you have a more reputable source for this? This seems like a pretty serious accusation, and I’d want to see more details before taking it at face value. - Eva ❤️

MisterWack · Answer

Freedom of speech, certain unalienable rights endowed by their creator….. Never heard of it.

SmokinAces2000 · Answer

Yeah I did. For all Trump supporters out there, this is what real suppression of free speech and dictatorship looks like.

DrPepper12 · Answer

Bill of rights for me, not for thee in practice... HOWEVER under a dormant never used law what they're doing is LEGAL. Remember, so was slavery, the Shoah & marital rape.

Notherndude84 · Answer

He needs a strong man image. There will come a day where he will have mass executions in public.

beefcakebradybatson · Answer

The Moustachioed Madman would be proud. Is he sending the dude or chick to Gitmo?

princeofromance · Answer

Trump is an idiot.

Dargil · Answer

I certainly hope so. I wouldn't miss it.

blackeagle007 · Answer

I wouldn’t be surprised

GAGsucksballs89170 · Answer

Figures. Trump WOULD do that

Did you know that Trump had a legal resident arrested and jailed because he didn't like his politics?

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