It has always been expected that President Trump would launch a mass deportation campaign against undocumented immigrants.
But the Republican leader is now going beyond his promised crackdown on immigrants without regular status; he is weaponizing immigration laws to go after foreign students and green card holders involved in Palestinian rights protests.
The campaign started with Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University, who was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier in March as the administration pushed to remove him from the country.
Khalil was not accused of a crime. Even the government is not claiming that he broke the law during the university protests last year.
Instead, the Trump administration is using an immigration law that gives the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, broad authority to remove non-citizens from the country if he deems them to be a threat to US foreign policy.
The Justice Department later claimed that Khalil failed to fully include his employment history while applying for a Green Card.
Trump has talked up the case and the White House flippantly shared a social media post with the caption, “Shalom, Khalil.”
Khalil is married to an American citizen who is eight-months pregnant. A court has halted his deportation but he remains imprisoned by ICE.
“Forcing Mahmoud Khalil — a legal permanent resident who has not been accused of committing a single crime — to remain in detention during the birth of his first child is unconscionable,” New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman said in a statement.
“Protesting a war or criticizing foreign policy is neither illegal, nor grounds for detention. The Trump administration has no right to incarcerate Mr. Khalil — this is an extreme, retaliatory, and targeted attack on the First Amendment and his right to due process.”
‘Assault on free speech’
It’s clear that the Trump team is trying to make an example out of Khalil while using his case to establish precedent and deport more people.
Indeed, the administration did not stop with Khalil.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University, was denied entry and deported to Lebanon earlier this month although she has a legitimate work visa.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) claimed that Alawieh admitted to immigration officers that she attended the public funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, which even if true would not be a legal offense.
Moreover, the Trump administration is trying to deport student visa holders.
ICE has arrested and is pushing to deport Badar Khan Suri, an Indian postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown University over Palestinian rights advocacy.
“Mr. Suri and his family are unfortunately the latest victim of President Trump’s assault on the freedom of speech,” Democratic Congressman Don Beyer said in a statement.
“Trump has made no effort to disguise the fact that the arrests of academics like Suri and Mahmoud Khalil is intended to have a chilling effect and discourage the free expression of political views which Trump dislikes.”
Immigration authorities are also trying to remove a 21-year-old Green Card holder from South Korea who has been in the country since she was a child for participating in Palestinian rights protests at Columbia University.
The administration is openly arguing that non-citizens in this country, even those who are here legally, have few legal rights.
And Trump has repeatedly said that there will be more arrests of immigrants and foreign students going forward.
Travel ban looming
Free speech groups have been sounding the alarm about Trump’s strategy.
And beyond the targeting of Palestinian rights advocates at home, the Trump administration is widely believed to be preparing to impose a travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries.
That’s why several rights groups have issued advisories warning non-citizens, including permanent residents, against leaving the US if their country of origin may be targeted by the looming ban.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) noted that during Trump’s first term, Green Card holders were affected by the initial ban.
“Although lawful permanent residents have extensive legal protections that should protect their right to enter and exit the country, the first Trump administration attempted to ban lawful permanent residents in its original 2017 Muslim Ban, which was blocked by courts,” CAIR said in a statement.
“It is unclear whether the administration will attempt to do so again.”
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) also issued a travel advisory for several countries, including Yemen, Iraq, Palestine and Syria.
“If you are from one of these countries and are present in the United States, whether with a green card (lawful permanent residency status) or a valid visa, ADC strongly advises avoiding international travel. If international travel is unavoidable, consult with an immigration attorney as soon as possible,” the group said.
