Rubio Refuses To Say If There’s Evidence Justifying Mahmoud Khalil’s Arrest | EUROtoday

One week after federal brokers kidnapped Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for main final 12 months’s scholar protests at Columbia University ― and sparking nationwide anger over free speech rights ― Secretary of State Marco Rubio nonetheless refuses to say whether or not the federal government even has any proof to legally justify revoking the person’s inexperienced card and deporting him.

Khalil stays detained in Louisiana as of Sunday, every week after plainclothes federal immigration brokers arrested him with out a warrant whereas he was coming again to his university-owned house along with his pregnant spouse, who recorded the interplay. The Columbia graduate’s attorneys are working to get him transferred again to New York City.

Rubio has admitted to revoking Khalil’s inexperienced card due to his function peacefully negotiating with Columbia’s administration on behalf of the scholars nonviolently protesting Israel’s U.S.-funded navy marketing campaign in opposition to Palestinians. The secretary equated the anti-war protests with antisemitism and help for Hamas, an excuse that many Jewish protesters have referred to as bullshit.

“Negotiating on behalf of people that took over a campus, that vandalized buildings? Negotiation over what?” the secretary informed CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “That’s a crime in and of itself, that they’re involved in being the negotiator, the spokesperson, this that the other. We don’t need these people in our country. We never should have allowed them in in the first place.”

Khalil has no prison historical past, and has not been charged with a criminal offense on this incident. The White House itself stated that Khalil’s inexperienced card ought to be revoked as a result of he organized scholar protests, not as a result of he has dedicated a criminal offense.

Rubio defended Khalil’s remedy over the previous week by citing a rarely-used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which vaguely states that the federal authorities can deport somebody if the secretary of state personally believes there are “reasonable grounds” to deduce their presence “would have potentially serious foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

On Sunday, Rubio couldn’t present any proof that might show Khalil helps Hamas and subsequently is eligible for deportation.

“Can you substantiate any form of material support for terrorism, specifically to Hamas, from this Columbia student?” requested host Margaret Brennan. “Or was it just he espoused a controversial political point of view?”

“We’re gonna do more. In fact, every day now we’re approving visa revocations ― and if that visa led to a green card, the green card process as well,” Rubio stated, not answering the query.

When Brennan requested twice extra if there’s any proof linking Khalil to terrorism, or whether or not his arrest is simply based mostly on his perspective, Rubio informed the journalist she ought to “watch the news.”

“If you are in this country to promote Hamas, to promote terrorist organizations, to participate in vandalism, to participate in acts of rebellion and riots on campus, we never would have let you in if we’d known that,” he stated. “And now that we know, you’re gonna leave.”

Everyone within the U.S. is roofed by the Constitution, together with visa holders and everlasting residents like Khalil. The activist’s attorneys say his detention violates his First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights, and supporters who’ve protested each day for his launch say that this opens the gates for the Trump administration to proceed weaponizing immigration and better schooling to crush constitutionally protected free speech.

Rubio’s feedback on Sunday are simply the newest in administration officers dodging questions on what particular terror-supporting actions Khalil dedicated to justify inexperienced card revocation and deportation. Troy Edgar, the Department of Homeland Security’s deputy secretary, was grilled in regards to the difficulty for 5 minutes Thursday by an NPR reporter.

When NPR’s Michel Martin requested what particular terrorist exercise Khalil was supporting, Edgar stated the activist was “agitating and supporting Hamas.” When Martin requested how precisely Khalil supported Hamas,” Edgar stated, “I think you can see it on TV, right?”

Edgar didn’t straight reply whether or not it’s a deportable offense if somebody is criticizing or protesting Israel or the U.S. authorities.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) described Khalil because the “mastermind” of final 12 months’s protests, however couldn’t say what particular crimes the activist dedicated that might justify deportation.