Khalili, legal residents, free speech, and supporting terrorist organizations
As one might expect, the left is very upset at the government’s attempt to deport green card holder and Hamas-friendly former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalili. Senator Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, summarizes the case quite well here:
Well, Mr. Khalil will receive due process because by now his lawyer has already filed a writ of habeas corpus. Mr. Khalil was involved in the protests. He was a Columbia student under the Immigration and Naturalization Act. If you support a terrorist organization you can be deported. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Mr. Khalil’s side of the story, I understand to be that I don’t support Hamas, I just support Palestinians. All I did was file some — post some Facebook posts. I wasn’t involved in any of the illegal protests or the illegal occupation of student buildings or physically intimidating the Jewish people and Jewish students. We’ll find out who’s right.
The Immigration and Naturalization Act, though, is fairly broad. And if the administration can show acts directly and probably indirectly supporting Hamas, they’ll deport him. And he should be deported, if that’s what’s shown in court.
For those interested in a more detailed legal explanation, Mahmoud Khalil is also deportable for another reason:
Khalil is a spokesman for an organization that supports armed resistance by Hamas. That makes him deportable pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(B).
That provision in the statute allows the deportation of even lawful permanent residents who are “representative[s]” of a “political, social, or other group that endorses or espouses terrorist activity.” 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(3)(B)(i)(IV)(aa)-(bb); see also id. at (B)(v) (“representative” defined as including “an officer, official, or spokesman of an organization.”) Columbia University Apartheid Divestment (“CUAD”) supports armed resistance by Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization.
See Sharon Otterman, Pro-Palestinian Group at Columbia Now Backs Armed Resistance by Hamas, N.Y. Times (Oct. 9, 2024), https://nytimes.com/2024/10/09/nyregion/columbia-pro-palestinian-group-hamas.html…… (CUAD supports armed resistance by Hamas).
Mahmoud Khalil is a spokesman for CUAD.
More at the link.
There is a hierarchy of non-citizens: illegal aliens, legal visa holders, and then legal green card holders. Khalili may have entered on a student visa, but now he has a green card which conveys greater rights. The arguments for deportation depend on the extent of his involvement in support of Hamas and the extent of his illegal activities on its behalf.
My questions are: why was Khalili here in the first place? When did he arrive in the US? Why was he granted a student visa and later a green card? When did he receive his green card – before or after his Columbia activities – and on what basis did he qualify for a green card? Did someone pay for his coming here and his activism?
Mahmoud Khalil was born in a Syrian refugee camp in 1995 and is a citizen of Algeria. He completed his undergraduate studies in Beirut before enrolling at Columbia University’s SIPA, where he earned his master’s degree in December 2024.
Between June and November 2023, Khalil worked as a political affairs officer with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in New York.
Not any more information there about how he came to be in the US. Here’s a NY Post article with a smidge more background, but it doesn’t even begin to answer those questions of mine.
Can we agree that Khalil is entitled to due process, and that if he was exercising his First Amendment rights—and the bar for proving that his actions were not constitutionally protected should be very high indeed—the charges against him should be dropped?
That said, I would love to see him deported, pour encourager les autres.
If he’s made to leave we’ll see a storm of protest, if he stays people will lose their political jobs, he will be forced to leave.
A green card holder can lose their status and be deported for a lot of things. They can even go to jail simply for not having their green card on their person at all times.
People who have a green card themselves, or are close to someone who has one, are aware of a lot of these things, but not all.
If he ever lied about anything in any of his paperwork, that is enough right there.
A Syrian national with Algerian citizenship, a political affairs officer for UNRWA (very competitive positions because of all the “entourage” types who follow their lead diplomat wherever he goes), and who got into a graduate program at Columbia in some type of international affairs program (for which admissions are always competitive), Khalidi seems to have quite a bit of pull for just some random kid from a refugee camp. Something is not adding up here.
My guess is that he isn’t just some rando from Syria, but somehow along the way he got some very powerful backers in the Western or Arab world or both. I think we should expect some surprising revelations about his background in the near future.
The “More Here” section seems to apply to a few of our congress persons…
YoungHegelian:
That is my hunch as well. I find it interesting that I haven’t been able to locate any information about it so far.
Young Hegelian @ 7:12pm has more (and misplaced) hope than reason. Our pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel MSM will smother the Khalili story quicker than fast. The MSM’s claim not to be anti-semitic rings hollow.
The algerian admissions comes from ‘resistance’ democracy now
https://x.com/ShidelerK/status/1899510045768912980
When he move to algeria
https://x.com/NizNellie3/status/1899551821141532878
Moving along
https://x.com/jsmith4966/status/1899551194315653569
I had understood, but can’t find the links at the moment, that Khalil had been an active leader in the Columbia and now Barnard protests in which Jewish students were locked out, locked in, or harassed while trying to attend classes. Any active participation in these events, which violated civil rights of students, should make him deportable.
Found this:
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/ice-arrest-mahmoud-khalil-palestinian-activist-columbia-protests/
MollyG:
No, not agreed.
I agree that he is entitled to due process. But does he have the same free speech rights as a citizen? It’s not at all clear that he does. See this.
I would also like to know how he presented himself in his green card application. Did he say he doesn’t support terrorist organizations, for example? Would that be considered a lie and would it be grounds for ending his status as green card holder?
With all the decent people who are desperate to come to the United States why in the world would we choose to invite a Hamas supporter? Would people be so concerned about Khalil’s first amendment rights if he were a Nazi? Or if he advocated a return to slavery? An American citizen is entitled to express all sorts of odious beliefs but I don’t see why anyone would want to import such people.
He was admitted in 2020, by some passport officer in algiers? (We are left to conclude) with like minded sympathies some admissions officer at columbia accepted him probably because of his islamist sentiments
Gregory Harper:
That’s why I want to know how he got here, what was said, when it happened, who were his sponsors and why, etc.
However, once he’s here and has a green card, the question is what rights does he have now.
More details
https://canarymission.org/individual/Mohsen_Mahdawi
I couldnt find much related to the provocative events on campus
For eighteen years I worked with internationals most of whom were grad students or visiting scholars. I’ve seen internationals struggle to navigate our immigration system which is slow, complicated, and expensive. I’ve called congressional offices a few times trying to get people help.
Khalil got a green card within two years. That’s shocking. I have *never* seen that.
The short answer to “what rights does a green holder possess” is here.
It’s that first one. There is a huge list of things that are legal for US citizens to do, that make an alien removable, and if a green card holder does any of those things he can be deported.
For example, a green holder can’t join the Communist Party without becoming deportable. Communist Party members are inadmissible and a green card holder cannot do anything that would make him an inadmissible alien.
Removal proceedings are briefly described here.
A partial huge list of things that can get a green card holder deported can be found here. For example, some stuff is at the discretion of the Secretary of State.
As many paths as there are to losing one’s green card status, it’s worth noting that even a naturalized US citizen who joins the Communist Party or a terrorist organization can have their citizenship revoked (within five years of gaining it).
If the population of temporary residents in the United States exceeds about 0.5% of the whole, there should be a moratorium on the issuance of student visas until that population falls. (Temporary residency visas should be limited to accredited employees of foreign governments, authentic refugees, students, teachers, and the dependents of those in these categories).
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All schools who recruit students or faculty from out of state should be subject to federal regulations in regard to their posted charges payable by students or patrons of students.
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(1) Mandated ancillary charges are debarred. You can charge for tuition and you can charge for room-and-board, and that’s it. It is permissible to have fee-for-service charges, but the institution may not formally or constructively require the student to use the services in question.
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(2) The coming year’s charges for all students must be posted ‘ere applications for freshmen’s fall matriculation are due.
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(3) The stated charges will be the maximum the student and his patrons are expected to satisfy. Mean discounts granted the previous academic year must be published when stated charges are posted. The discounts the student has been awarded must be revealed to him before a student is required to notify the institution he has elected to matriculate.
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(4) Institutions wishing to recruit students from abroad should be required to purchase a visa for the student and his dependents in a multiple-price auction. There can be no repeat purchases to retain the student in the country after this purchase has run out. Should the student and his dependents leave ‘ere the time on the visa runs out, the unused time is tossed on a secondary market. In lieu of purchasing a visa for the student on the primary market, the school could purchase time on the secondary exchange. The system would work the same for faculty recruited from abroad (who are term faculty only). To qualify for admission under the terms of an educational visa, the student or teacher in question would be required to pass a language proficiency test. His dependents might be required to pass a minimum proficiency test, with dependents under 14 excused. The time you are permitted to remain in the United States under such a visa should not exceed more than seven years in any bloc of 35.
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Again, those admitted as temporary residents are not settlers. In order to receive a settler’s visa, you should have to enter the queue for one. In order to enter the queue, you should have to pass a physical, a cursory background check, and a proficiency test in English (written and oral). You get married while you’re in the queue, you receive a joint spot in the queue at a locus halfway between your initial admission and the date you were married. You sire, bear, or otherwise acquire children, your common position in the queue is calculated by averaging the date you entered, the date you were married, and the date each child entered your family. One of your children arrives at age 21 while waiting, he’s cleaved off and given a separate spot in the queue behind yours. You arrive at the head of the queue, you’re parked there until every member of your family over age 14 has passed the English proficiency test if they have not done so in the last 4 years. A country like the United States might admit 280,000 settlers per year. There would be no way to expedite admissions. You’re in the queue and you’re not admitted until it’s your turn.
I think Khalil can be deported under section (bb) in the long list of things for which a green card holder can be deported.
(IV) is a representative (as defined in clause (v)) of-
(aa) a terrorist organization (as defined in clause (vi)); or
(bb) a political, social, or other group that endorses or espouses terrorist activity;
Rick67:
That’s very interesting.
“Between June and November 2023, Khalil worked as a political affairs officer with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in New York.” That alone would make him deportable, IMO.
Niketas is correct in his discussion. The INA is pretty clear about what can get a green card holder removed. Among my other duties at State, I spent several years as an Immigration Chief and believe that he can be removed without legal difficulty. On his application he was asked, point blank, if he supported any terrorist group.
He’s not a citizen; deport his sorry behind, and let it be known that violent protests in his defense will get one arrested.
Telemachus:
Apparently he’s married to a US citizen. I don’t know whether that makes any legal difference, but it might.
If he’s married to a US citizen that might explain why he has a green card, but that’s not an exemption to the things he might be deported for.
When I worked in Latin America, I was very discreet in expressing any opinions on the politics of the country where I was working. If someone brought up the issue, I might reply. I wouldn’t bring up politics myself. Even in the military dictatorships where I had worked, a lot of people brought up local politics in conversations.
Rest assured I would never have participated in a demonstration–it wasn’t my country. Wouldn’t want to be perceived as an imperialist trying to impose my views on a country. 🙂
Pardon the term, but it takes a lot of chutzpah for a foreigner in the US to do the demonstration deal.
Telemachus
The author Ariel Dorfman spent much of his childhood in the US, where his Commie father worked for the UN. The US government was ready to deport Ariel’s father for having helped a Commie flee the country ( IIRC Maurice Halperin), around the time that the Rosenbergs were executed. Instead of being deported, the UN sent Ariel’s father to work in Chile.
Factoid: Ariel’s parents named him Vladimiro.
And Ilhan Omar married her brother. The Algerian/Syrian and Somalian both need a homecomming.
Here he is on LinkedIn. He seems to have worked in Lebanon for about 10 years at a series of international non-profits, while also attending the Lebanese American University in Beirut. He’s been in NY for 2+ years, including the stint with UNRWA. He began volunteering for a non-profit in 2013, at the age of 18. From a well-connected family, it seems. We’ll learn more soon. https://www.linkedin.com/in/khalilmahmoud?trk=universal-search-cluster
If you remember the three Palestinian students who were shot in Vermont in Nov. 2023, the one who was paralyzed was well-connected indeed. He was nephew or great-nephew to the PA’s former education minister, and his mother was a US citizen, the Irish-born daughter of a wealthy Irish banker.
More on the chess game featuring Khalili:
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2025/03/10/judge-blocks-deportation-of-pro-hamas-leader-but-the-trump-administration-may-have-outfoxed-him-n2186506
They moved him from the NY judge’s jurisdiction to Louisiana.
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/03/10/senate-dems-others-agitate-for-release-of-hamas-supporter-mahmoud-khalil-trump-fires-back-n2186505
Because of course they do.
Trump’s response: “This is the first arrest of many to come.”
His full post on Truth Social:
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114139222625284782
Note, the ‘protests’ at Columbia included scads of petty crime. In a sane system, aliens who are reasonably suspected of offenses more serious than a petty misdemeanors are placed in preventive detention. If the case is not processed, or if they’re acquitted, or if their eventual sentence is shorter than their time in detention, you can indemnify them according to a standard rate. It should always be the case that aliens convicted of offenses receive corporal punishment or a clipped sentence of incarceration (no parole) and then are deported upon release. The only exceptions you might offer would be to those who were under 21 when released. With deportation would be a suspension of their right of domicile in the United States.
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NB, his employment with UNRWA should have sufficed to have him declared an undesirable and denied entry to the United States. This whole business is a self-inflicted injury.
As I understand it-
[many mainstream, US colleges], and [many, ivy league, US colleges],no longer protect: Jewish people, Christian people, or other religious people, and other people, from- harassment, threats, calls for terrorism , or threats of death:
https://tjvnews.com/2025/03/the-anti-trump-resistance-rushes-to-defend-campus-antisemites/