Kenneth Roth on X re Mahmoud Khalil
(Former Human Rights Watch executive director (1993-2022). Visiting professor, Princeton SPIA.)

“Trump wants to revoke a Palestinian student's green card—his supposedly permanent resident status—because he helped to lead protests at Columbia University against Israel's systematic war crimes in Gaza. What First Amendment?”

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IF NOT NOW

….The Trump administration targeted Mahmoud Khalid because he spoke out for Palestinian human rights. His abduction is them carrying out their promise to destroy any opposition to their fascist, white supremacist worldview….

This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. If we don’t strongly oppose this dystopian crackdown on freedom of expression, any of Trump’s political opponents could be next: advocates for reproductive justice, climate action, trans rights, immigrant rights, and other progressive causes.

When we say never again, we mean never again for anyone. >>

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Stand With Our Students, Protect Free Speech

(Letter released by artists and cultural workers, signed by over 11,000 at this point)

At its core, the administration’s actions against pro-Palestine views and educational institutions are an unconstitutional abuse of state authority intended to target, punish, and criminalize viewpoints that it is ideologically opposed to. The suppression of dissent on college campuses by the Department of Justice, DHS, and ICE is a preview of what the current government plans to impose on all sectors of society that challenge the agenda of the far-right ideologues and billionaires who dominate the Trump White House….

We, the signers below, condemn the vicious attacks against free speech and the targeting of immigrant students, particularly student activists and protestors. Throughout history, the repression of student movements has always been the harbinger of a broader assault against basic democratic and civil rights for the rest of the nation. Now is the time that we must stand together to protect our students, our right to education, and our constitutional right to Free Speech. >>

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National Immigration Law Center Statement on DHS’s Detention of Student Activist Mahmoud Khalil

WASHINGTON — Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC):

“The disturbing arrest of Mahmoud Khalil for exercising his right to free speech marks a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s abuse of immigration enforcement and disregard for the law. We denounce this outrageous, politically motivated attempt to silence Mr. Khalil by locking him away and threatening to revoke his green card without due process. We stand in solidarity with Mr. Khalil and his family and join in the calls for his immediate release.”

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Interfaith Alliance Condemns Trump Admin’s Unjust Detention of Activist Mahmoud Khalil

Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president of Interfaith Alliance, released the following statement: 

“As an organization dedicated to civil rights and multi-faith democracy, we are appalled at the Trump Administration’s blatant disregard for Mahmoud Khalil’s Constitutional rights — including the First Amendment right to free speech and the right to due process. Far from combating antisemitism or other forms of hate, this arrest is designed to sow division between vulnerable communities and to intimidate and threaten all those — especially immigrants — engaged in activism and protest.

“What starts with the targeting of Mahmoud Khalil and other Palestinian protesters will not end there. Whether or not one agrees with or supports these protesters’ views or actions, we must recognize that they are the canaries in the coalmine of the Trump Administration’s authoritarian tactics. They are unjustly using immigration enforcement as a tool to silence political opponents — even pulling legal permanent residents from their homes and detaining them, without charge, in another state.” >>

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Michael Thaddeus, a professor of mathematics at Columbia University, said, "The attack on Mahmoud Khalil is intended to make them quake in their boots and to make all of us quake in our boots. Our message to Washington is that we are not silenced, we are not afraid, and we stand together determined to defeat this ongoing assault on our fundamental rights."

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James Schamus, American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director

So the white nationalist hammer is coming down on Columbia University, which is being made an example of, in order to scare all institutions of higher education into falling in line with the Musk/Trump plan to destroy any and all potential civil society nodes of resistance to the authoritarian regime they are putting in place. Don’t be fooled: the excuse they are using to destroy the institution—that Columbia is incorrigibly antisemitic—is, of course, the exact opposite of what is happening. They are coming after Columbia precisely because the University is, to the (not-) “populist” base in front of whom they perform their Hitler salutes and at whom they hose their antisemitic memes, an emblem precisely of Jewishness: it’s “globalist,” “cosmopolitan,” New York-based, “liberal,” etc….

They were never going to stop at critics of Israel. They’re coming for the “good” Jews too; indeed, they have already come—they’ve come today, for you. So we’re all in this together now. And by “we” I mean not only us Jews, but every right-thinking defender of the values this university is supposed to stand for. And we should, and can, regardless of our differences of opinion over Israel, join now in common cause to fight the evil engulfing our students and colleagues. >>

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Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project:

“This arrest is unprecedented, illegal, and un-American. The federal government is claiming the authority to deport people with deep ties to the U.S. and revoke their green cards for advocating positions that the government opposes. To be clear: The First Amendment protects everyone in the U.S. The government’s actions are obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate. The government must immediately return Mr. Khalil to New York, release him back to his family, and reverse course on this discriminatory policy.”

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Brian Hauss, ACLU

“This seems like one of the biggest threats, if not the biggest threats to First Amendment freedoms in 50 years… It’s a direct attempt to punish speech because of the viewpoint it espouses.”

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Amnesty International, March 12, 2025

USA: Arrest and Detention of Mahmoud Khalil Is Chilling Attack on Human Rights

Paul O’Brien, Amnesty International USA’s Executive Director, made the following statement:

“The arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student activist and lawful permanent resident, is another attack on human rights by the Trump administration. Each and every one of us — regardless of immigration status — has the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and due process….

“The U.S. government must release Mahmoud Khalil immediately. Colleges and universities must also take steps to protect their immigrant students from ICE enforcement and ensure that the human rights of all of their students and faculty to protest in support of Palestinian rights and other issues is respected and protected.” >>

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Code Pink on TikTok: “An update on Mahmoud Khalil's case.”

A judge has stopped his deportation, but now Secretary of State Marco Rubio is invoking a Cold War-era law to try to establish the authority needed to deport any "alien" whose views he deems "dangerous."

This is not just about Mahmoud and it is not just about Palestine. This affects all of us.

We all need to be taking action to stop this deportation. We cannot allow it to become acceptable for the Trump administration to disappear and deport anyone they disagree with. >>

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Libertarian Party: Statement on the Arrest and Potential Deportation of Mahmoud Khalil & Free Speech

"The U.S. government is once again using immigration law as a political weapon, this time against Mahmoud Khalil and other student protesters. Free speech is not a privilege granted by the state; it is an innate liberty that the state is supposed to protect. Just as Nixon targeted anti-war activists, the government is now silencing dissent on Palestine. Libertarians oppose all state crackdowns on speech, no matter the target." 

— LNC Chair, Steven Nekhaila

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Over 3,400,000 people have signed the ActionNetwork's Demand the Immediate Release of Palestinian Student Activist Mahmoud Khalil from DHS detention.