Before a hearing on Wednesday in which the lawyers of a Palestinian activist who is a permanent legal resident of the United States will challenge his planned deportation, the State Department and the White House indicated a provision that allows green card holders to be eliminated from the country if they present “consequences of potentially serious adverse foreign policy for the United States.”
“In such cases, the Secretary of State notifies the Secretary of the Department of National Security, who has the authority to initiate elimination positions,” said a state department spokesman in response to questions about the circumstances of the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil.
Khalil, a recent graduate from Columbia University and Palestinian activist whom the federal immigration authorities arrested at the Housing University on Saturday, has not been criminally accused.
President Donald Trump said that Khalil’s apprehension, who organized and directed pro-palestinian demonstrations in Columbia last year, would be the “first arrest of many” as his administration adhered to the opposition of the Campus to the War in Gaza.
The National Security Department has accused Khalil of the main “activities aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
The White House said Tuesday that the Pro-Ahamas propaganda was distributed in the protests of the campus that Khalil organized.
“This administration will not tolerate people who have the privilege of studying in our country and then set aside with proterrorist organizations that have killed Americans,” said the White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
A lawyer from Khalil, Samah Sisay, rejected the claim, saying that there is no evidence that his client provides any kind to a terrorist organization.
Khalil’s legal team also said that his arrest was a violation of his rights of freedom of expression and that he was attacked due to his views.
“He was chosen as an example to quell the completely legal dissent in violation of the first amendment,” said lawyer Amy Greer.
His arrest has caused protests throughout the country as defenders request their release.
Adam Cox, a law professor and immigration expert at the University of New York, said the provision in the provision of the Immigration and Nationality Law cited by the Administration has historically been used in rare circumstances.
“If the administration began using that in a generalized way to arrest people and argue that they are deportable, it would be a huge change of historical practice,” he said.
Leavitt said more arrests are expected. The National Security Department is using intelligence to identify more “Pro-Ahamas” students and has provided Columbia University for the names of others that she said “committed to the pro-breaks.”
The school has refused to help the department, he said.
Khalil is detained at a detention center in Louisiana, where he has an initial hearing in the immigration court scheduled for March 21.
His legal team is fighting for his return to New York City.
“I need his help to take Mahmoud home, so he is here by my side, taking my hand in the births while we welcome our first child to this world,” said his wife, who has eight months pregnant, in a statement issued through his lawyers.
