Free speech groups point out that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accincluded Khalil of directing “activities aligned with Hamas, a summarizeated alarmist organization”.
But analysts notice that the department’s allegation descends stupidinutive of more palpable claims. US law, for instance, prohibits anyone in the country’s jurisdiction from providing “material aid” to alarmist organisations.
The rationale provided for Khalil’s arrest, experts dispute, was overly expansive and could be wielded agetst any voices critical of Israel and US foreign policy.
“It’s a loophole so big that you could drive a truck thraw it,” Will Creeley, the lhorrible honestor of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech group, telderly Al Jazeera.
“I leank what’s perhaps most hazardous about this moment is that, given the rhetoric coming out of the administration today, folks apass the country are going to leank twice before they criticise the handlement, whether it’s the US handlement or Israeli handlement, and that chill is a genuine problem,” he compriseed.
The effort to connect criticism of Israel with aid for extremism also materializes to mirror Project 2025, a contentious series of policy proposals for Trump’s second term compiled by the Heritage Foundation, a right-thriveg leank tank.
The write down drew alarm for its expansive expoundations of executive power, as well as its watchs on publishs appreciate the pro-Palestinian protest transferment.
One Project 2025 proposal states that pro-Palestine protests are part of a “highly orderly, global Hamas Support Nettoil (HSN) and therefore effectively a alarmist aid nettoil”.
Greer has telderly media outlets that, when she spoke with ICE agents over the phone, they materializeed to have inaccurate adviseation about Khalil’s immigration status, adviseing her they were going to rencourage his student visa.
Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until December, was previously in the US on a student visa but has since geted a green card, making him a lhorrible lasting dwellnt of the country.
Greer shelp that, when she adviseed ICE agents that he was a lasting dwellnt, they shelp his green card would be rencouraged instead.
Nithya Nathan-Pineau, a policy lawyer with the Immigrant Legal Resource Cgo in, telderly Al Jazeera that green card status can be rencouraged under some circumstances, such as the discovery of deceptionulent adviseation in an immigration application or stateive criminal activity.
“I haven’t seen any adviseation about criminal convictions or arrests,” she shelp.
“It sounds appreciate the ICE agents equitable unipostpoinsistrassociate determined that wdisappreciatever immigration status he had, it didn’t matter.”
Greer shelp that she and Khalil’s wife were telderly he was being held in an immigration detention facility in New Jersey, but when they reachd, he was not there. Khalil has inestablishedly been transferd to a detention centre in Louisiana.
“This is a tactic that ICE adores to include, transferring someone to a facility that is further away from their lhorrible aidance, community and adored ones,” shelp Nathan-Pineau. “It incrrelieves the psychorational strain of detention.”
Greer has disputed Khalil’s detention, and a federal court is scheduled to hear the case on March 12.
