Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been set loose on people with green cards and visas, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio vows to deport anyone who “supports Hamas.”
Rubio on Sunday warned that “we will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported,” hours after ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who led student protests at Columbia University last year.
Rubio shared an article about Khalil’s arrest on Sunday night. Attorney Amy Greer said Khalil was told he was being arrested after his student visa had been revoked, but she pointed out that he is a permanent resident of the U.S.
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Greer told ABC News that the arresting officers were informed of Khalil’s legal status but detained him anyway. The BBC reported that Khalil, a Palestinian refugee raised in Syria, was inside his university-owned home when he was detained.
She added that agents hung up the phone on her as she tried to find out more about the incident.
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, said the move was “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.”
“Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” she said of the former Columbia University graduate student. He was a leading figure in a protest last year when supporters set up a huge tent encampment on the lawn of the university. Other protesters seized control of an academic building before police arrested them. Khalil was not involved in the latter.
“ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security,” she added.
The same statement was also shared by Homeland Security on X Monday. Senior Trump aide Stephen Miller also posted on X, although he did not link his message to Khalil’s arrest.
“America exercises sole and exclusive control over admission to our country,” he wrote. “We are a sovereign nation. Admission is a privilege—an extraordinary privilege. Not a right.
“Those who sympathize with terrorism are unwelcome on our shores. They will be denied entry or sent home.”
Meanwhile, Greer told ABC that she doesn’t know where her client is being held. “Overnight we filed a habeas corpus petition on Mahmoud’s behalf challenging the validity of his arrest and detention,” she said. “Currently we do not know Mahmoud’s precise whereabouts.”
His heavily pregnant wife, an American citizen, could not find Khalil at an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he had apparently been transferred. Greer said she suspects he might have been taken to Louisiana.
She said the arrest represents the “government’s open repression of student activism and political speech.”
“The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech,” Greer added.
The news comes after a Truth Social diktat from Trump on March 4 concerning “illegal protests.”
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump posted.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Daily Beast.
