Urgent update: Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil still detained in Louisiana, Trump says “more arrests” to come
On March 8, Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil was abducted from his New York home by plainclothes DHS agents.
He remained forcibly disappeared for over 24 hours, until it was reported on Monday that he had been transferred out of state without his wife or attorney’s knowledge, to a notorious Louisiana ICE facility known for its abuse of detainees.
“Immigration ripped my soul from me when they handcuffed my husband…forced him into an unmarked vehicle. Instead of putting together our nursery & washing baby clothes…am left sitting in our apartment, wondering when Mahmoud will get a chance to call me from a detention center”
-Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, who is currently eight months pregnant
Amid public outrage, a federal judge ruled late Monday evening to temporarily block Mahmoud’s deportation. Today, that same judge ordered Mahmoud to be allowed privileged phone calls with his lawyers, a right he’s been denied since his arrest. But he declined to rule on his lawyers’ request to move him back home to New York. For now, Mahmoud remains detained in a notorious ICE facility in Louisiana, over a thousand miles away from his eight-months-pregnant wife.
Trump isn’t backing down…
Despite public pressure, the Trump administration has continued making outrageous threats, clearly intended to stoke fear among student activists and immigrants.
In a statement posted to Truth Social on Monday, Trump threatened that Mahmoud’s detention was only “the first arrest of many to come.”
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it…We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again.”
-President Trump
The Trump administration remains intent on deporting Mahmoud despite his status as a permanent U.S. resident, and despite the fact that he has not been charged with a crime.
They are relying on seldom-used provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that give Secretary of State Marco Rubio sweeping powers to deport green card holders, should he determine that their “presence or activities in the United States…would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States” — effectively labeling Mahmoud a national security threat.
Mahmoud’s alma mater Columbia University is under increasing pressure to fully comply with the Trump administration’s attacks on student activists. Columbia’s administration was glad to throw their students under the bus last spring, when hundreds rose up to demand Palestinian freedom — but that was never going to be enough for Trump and the rest of the far-Right.
After the Trump administration froze $400 million in federal grants earlier this week, the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that “Columbia University has been given the names of other individuals who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity,” but that thus far they were “refusing to help DHS identify those individuals on campus.”
“And as [President Trump] said very strongly in his statement yesterday, he is not going to tolerate that,” Leavitt continued.
…but neither is our movement.
Meanwhile, our movements are taking to the streets and building pressure on our elected officials to act to secure Mahmoud’s release. On Monday and Tuesday, thousands of New Yorkers marched to demand Mahmoud’s freedom.
At college campuses across the country, from California to New York, Oregon to Illinois, students are holding demonstrations in solidarity with Mahmoud, including at Columbia, where a coalition of Jewish students gathered on the university’s front steps in red t-shirts that read “Jews say ICE off campus.”
On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the New York court where Mahmoud’s hearing was taking place. In the last 48 hours, our sister organization JVP Action has driven over 17,000 calls and emails to our members of Congress to demand they act immediately to secure Mahmoud’s release from ICE custody.
Our elected officials are starting to speak out under the pressure of our movements. Fourteen House Democrats have signed a letter demanding Mahmoud’s release so far. Last night, 29 New York state, local, and federal officials signed a similar letter demanding Mahmoud’s release. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) has also spoken out strongly for Mahmoud’s freedom, articulating the grave threat such an unconstitutional act poses to fundamental rights and freedoms:
“In dictatorships, they call this practice ‘being disappeared’… [Mahmoud is] in jail because of his political speech,” Senator Murphy said. “If you are disloyal to Trump, or you’re organizing against Trump’s political agenda, your speech could be criminalized.”
-Senator Chris Murphy
It’s still not nearly enough — and we must keep up the pressure to secure Mahmoud’s release.
Take action to demand Mahmoud’s freedom
Use our sister organization JVP Action’s click-to-email and click-to-call tools to contact all of your members of Congress right now and tell them to do everything in their power to secure Mahmoud’s release.
If you’ve called an emailed already, call and email again.
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