Over the weekend, a Palestinian man on a student visa had his green card revoked after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested him at his home. Mahmoud Khalil was one of the lead organizers of the sit-in at Columbia University. His wife is an American citizen and she was threatened by ICE too, according to reports.
What did he do? Did he incite violence or simply support the same cause as Hamas, which is a two-state solution? So far, Redacted has not seen proof that he incited violence or broke laws. If he has, he should be prosecuted on those grounds, not for support of an idea.
Free speech organization FIRE says this about it: “Anyone facing arrest and detention must be afforded due process. Just as students and other demonstrators are obliged to abide by lawful rules of conduct, our government must abide by the First Amendment. The government must be clear and transparent about the basis for its actions to avoid chilling protected speech.”
This comes on the heels of the Trump administration declaring that it will defund Columbia University and investigate “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
Axios reports that the State Department is launching “an AI-fueled ‘Catch and Revoke’ effort to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups.”
“Support Hamas” is code for “critic of Israel.” So the State Department will scan social media of foreign nationals and punish them if they don’t like what they see, even if it involves protected speech?
Free speech organization FIRE says this about it: “AI tools are emerging technologies, not trusted experts on the limits of protected speech under the First Amendment. They cannot be relied on to parse the nuances of expression about complex and contested matters like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Using AI to scour student visa holders’ social media for “pro-Hamas” speech and report that speech to an administration that threatens to deport international students for protected expression will undoubtedly encourage self-censorship on our nation’s campuses. America’s national strength is our commitment to free expression — let’s keep it that way.”
