AHRC Calls For The Immediate Release Of Permanent Resident Mahmoud Khalil, Condemns Weaponizing Immigration Law To Quell Dissent:

The American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) joins the nation’s civil and human rights community in calling for the immediate release of Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, who was recently arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Mr. Khalil is a Palestinian permanent resident/Green Card holder with an eight -8-month pregnant American citizen wife.

Mr. Khalil is not a criminal. His only “crime” is that he is the face of the Palestine protest at Columbia University. Khalil is a Palestinian activist who participated in lawful pro-Palestinian demonstrations and rallies. He did not violate civil laws either. The administration is merely weaponizing vague and rarely used immigration provisions to go after legally vulnerable Palestine protesters. We also see no basis for transferring him to a detention center in Louisiana other than causing hardship for him and his friends and family. They could have held him close to where he was detained.

Mr. Khalil lives in the US. He benefits from constitutional protections. He has the Freedom of Speech. Advocacy for Palestinian rights and against Israel's ongoing genocide against the occupied Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is protected by the First Amendment. Protest at Columbia has not been a Palestinian phenomenon. Students of all backgrounds, including Jewish students, also participated in the protests. Genocide is appalling and it is expected that all people of conscience, regardless of background, would protest to register opposition to genocide and US involvement in the ongoing genocide. What Mr. Mahmoud did was not only legal, but it was also moral and humanitarian too.

This arrest is not just about Mr. Khalil. This high-profile arrest of a Green Card holder is meant to scare all international students and permanent residents. The message is using your freedom of speech at your own peril.

AHRC urges all human rights and civil rights advocacy groups to stand with Mr. Khalil. AHRC will continue to monitor Mr. Khalil’s case and work with other groups to push back against the Trump administration’s weaponizing immigration law to crush constitutionally protected dissent. This is not just Mr. Khalil's fight.

“There is a history and tradition in the US of using immigration law to go after dissenting voices,” said Imad Hamad, AHRC Executive Director. “But over the years, the courts have limited the powers of the executive branch and gradually increased the constitutional rights of Americans and everyone else who is in the US,” added Hamad. “Mr. Khalil’s case as to immigrants’ rights and Free Speech is a battle that the administration should not be allowed to win,” concluded Hamad.