The name Mahmoud Khalil is destined to be etched in U.S. history. What remains to be seen is whether he will become a symbol of the steadfast resistance of American democracy or its agonizing end. The Khalil case has called into question the rule of law, and its resolution may solidify the foundations of an authoritarian regime with Trump as dictator.
On the night of March 8, Mahmoud Khalil was arrested at the entrance of his home in front of his 8-month pregnant wife. The officers, dressed in civilian clothes, handcuffed him and stated that he was going to be deported because his student visa had been revoked. Khalil argued that, although he is not a U.S. citizen, he has a green card that grants him permanent residency. The officers, somewhat surprised, said that his green card had also been revoked and took him away in a vehicle without license plates. At no point did they show an arrest warrant, a judicial sentence, or any official identification proving that they were legitimate authorities from any federal agency. Mahmoud Khalil was neither detained nor arrested: he was “kidnapped.”
Khalil was quickly transported from New York to New Jersey and then flown to Louisiana. His imminent deportation was temporarily suspended only after his lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition before a federal judge in New York. His first appearance before an immigration court in Louisiana is scheduled for March 27. What is most surprising, and dangerous, is that his detention and revocation of residency were not due to the commission of any crime, but rather to the discretionary and arbitrary power of the U.S. executive branch. Mahmood Khalil is a political prisoner.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, following President Trump’s instructions, legalized his actions under the provisions of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, which authorizes the expulsion of foreigners, whether residents or not, whose presence or activities pose a threat to foreign policy or national security. The executive branch argues that Khalil, in his role as a leader of student protests at Columbia University against the war in Gaza, promoted anti-Semitic ideology and pro-Hamas actions. For Khalil’s lawyers, Trump is using this case to attack the right to protest and censor opinions contrary to his government’s policies, those of the United States, and Israel. The reality is somewhat more complex and ominous.
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to deport all foreign students who participated in university protests against Israeli actions, labeling them as anti-Semitic and Hamas sympathizers. Republican lawmakers, as well as some Democrats, held public hearings with the presidents of Columbia, Harvard, MIT, and Penn, where they were subjected to “show trials,” leading to their eventual resignations. This was the first major victory of Republican conservatism in its so-called culture war against progressivism.
The unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism and Hamas support in the protests were merely an excuse to launch a ruthless attack against U.S. university institutions, seen as centers of cultural elites that promote progressive indoctrination. According to conservative and reactionary right-wing views, these institutions revealed their unpatriotism by supporting protests led by foreign students categorized as anti-Semitic and anti-American for actively criticizing the United States and Israel.
Just hours after the transition ceremony, Trump issued several decrees eliminating any federal measures promoting the values of diversity, equity, and equality. Their effects were felt beyond the federal bureaucracy: all types of grants and credits to corporations, and research funding to science and technology development centers and academic institutions were suspended.
For Republicans, diversity, equity, and equality are the pillars of so-called “cultural Marxism,” which includes, according to them, multiculturalism, feminism, queer sexuality, critical race theory, and post-colonialism. All ideas that began in the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s and began threatening traditional values through their popularization in the 1990s in universities and in the 2000s-2010s with mass media.
Columbia University is the first battle in this culture war. Days before Khalil’s detention, Trump withheld over 400 million dollars in federal research funds, arguing that Columbia had not protected its Jewish students. To obtain the funds, Columbia was required to sanction and expel the responsible students, eliminate diversity as a factor in student admissions, allow immigration agents onto campus, and eliminate the Middle Eastern, African, and Asian departments. At the same time, the Justice Department launched an investigation into student groups for “supporting terrorism.”
The intimidation had its effect, as Columbia expelled more than 20 students and revoked the visas of several foreign students, serving as a successful pilot test. The Department of Education sent similar intimations to over 60 universities, threatening to cut federal funding if they did not eliminate certain programs or cancel certain courses, particularly those related to race issues, feminism, queer theory, and colonialism.
The political project of Trumpism and his ideological allies, such as Orban, Milei, Bukele, Netanyahu, and Putin, among others, is to establish authoritarian regimes, which is why the eradication of critical thinking, academic freedom, and progressivism in universities is the first step. Cancelling federal funds and grants is simply a disciplining strategy.
Likewise, the Khalil case is a matter of freedom of expression, not national security. Revoking visas and deporting foreigners simply because of their opinions is a tactic aimed at instilling fear and panic to silence opponents and discipline public opinion. It is no coincidence that the law used to deport Khalil was enacted during the peak of McCarthyism, and it also allows, in addition to expelling foreigners sympathetic to totalitarian and anti-American ideologies, the denationalization of American citizens.
What is beginning to emerge in the United States is a new McCarthyism, an ideological witch-hunt, and censorship of dissenting opinions critical of the country, accompanied by authoritarian measures worthy of the Latin American juntas of the 1970s, the closure of universities due to subversive activities, “forced disappearances of terrorists,” and the criminalization of protests.
The survival of the rule of law depends on the courts limiting the executive’s discretionary power. Justice must reject the argument that Khalil poses a threat to national security and uphold the right to freedom of expression, opinion, and protest for all individuals present in U.S. territory. The problem is that Trump may ignore such a judicial decision and deport Khalil, just as in recent days Venezuelans and a Lebanese doctor and professor with a work visa were deported despite judicial orders suspending their expulsions.
Trump argues that the 1798 Alien Enemies Act allows the presence of certain foreigners on U.S. soil to be interpreted as an invasion, authorizing deportations without judicial review. Additionally, Republican lawmakers have launched resolutions to initiate impeachment proceedings against federal judges who have ruled Trump’s actions unconstitutional. Trump has threatened to remove these judges, prompting an unusual public objection from the Chief Justice, and triggering what seems to be a grave constitutional crisis. The end of an independent judiciary is the last step before an authoritarian regime.
Khalil’s freedom is the freedom of all.
*Machine translation proofread by Janaína da Silva.
Autor
Lawyer. Postdoc at New School For Social Research (N. York). Specialized in international criminal law, constitutional law and human rights. Master in international studies and sociology.
