Republican Senator Tom Cotton put his colleagues on blast after Democrats called for the release of a Palestinian activist arrested by ICE.
It came after the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats posted an image with the caption ‘Free Mahmoud Khalil’ to X.
Khalil was a graduate student and permanent U.S. resident at the center of anti-Israel protests at Columbia University last year.
He was taken into custody at his university-owned apartment on Saturday night by ICE agents.
‘Let me get this right: Senator Dick Durbin and the Judiciary Committee Democrats are fighting for a pro-Hamas foreigner who has made life hell for Jews on campus?’ the Arkansas senator wrote.
‘Even for Dick Durbin, who voted to cut off military supplies to Israel, this is remarkable,’ he added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on Sunday that his department would be ‘revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.’
President Donald Trump on Monday wrote that it would be the ‘first arrest of many’ as the administration cracks down on on what he called ‘pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.’
Mahmoud Khalil speaking at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on April 29, 2024 at Columbia University. He was detained by ICE on Saturday
But Durbin fired back after the arrest ‘ICE just DETAINED a lawful permanent resident and recent grad student in the middle of the night… because Mahmoud exercised his First Amendment rights in a way Donald Trump didn’t like.’
He posted on X that the move was ‘Straight up authoritarianism.’
Vermont Senator Peter Welch argued Khalil as a legal resident is ‘entitled to First Amendment protections like everyone in this country.’
‘If Trump starts illegally revoking green cards from people because he doesn’t like their speech, we’re on the path to full-blown authoritarianism,’ Welch slammed the president.
On Monday, a U.S. district judge ordered that Khalil remain in the U.S. as the court weighs a filing challenging his arrest and deportation.
A detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
While Cotton blasted Democrats for their response, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) noted the upcoming court hearing while discussing the arrest and response with DailyMail.com.
‘We’ll find out tomorrow morning how the government intends to charge this guy, or what particularly under statutes, the removal statute, they’re deciding is the basis for removal,’ Hawley said.
But he called the Democratic response immediately calling for his release ‘bizarre.’
‘If these folks commit crimes, if they commit unlawful acts of any kind, they assault students, they threaten people on campus… I’m all for deporting them,’ Hawley said.
Khalil at a protest at Columbia University on October 12, 2023. He has a detention hearing on Wednesday morning after being taken into custody
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) blasted Democrats who posted for the release of Khalil who was in the U.S. legally when he was detained by ICE
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday refused to take a question on the arrest at his press conference, but he pointed reporters to a statement online.
In a post on X, Schumer who is Jewish, wrote ‘I abhor many of the opinions and policies that Mahmoud Khalil holds and supports,’ but Schumer noted Khalil is a legal permanent resident with an American wife who is eight months pregnant.
‘The Trump administration’s DHS must articulate any criminal charges or facts that would justify his detention or the initiation of deportation proceedings against him,’ Schumer wrote.
The Democratic senator wrote if the administration cannot prove he violated criminal law and he was detained ‘for the opinions he has expressed’ it is ‘wrong’ and a violation of First Amendment protections.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday, a dozen House Democrats led by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib called for Khalil to be released from custody immediately.
They noted that he had not be charged or convicted for a crime and called his arrest an ‘attempt to criminalize political protest.’
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked if the Trump administration believes it needs to charge a green card holder with a crime to deport him.
‘Secretary Rubio reserves the right to revoke the visa of Mahmoud Khalil,’ Leavitt said.
She claimed that the secretary of state has the right to revoke a green card or visa for an individuals who are ‘adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests’ of the U.S.
Leavitt accused Khalil of distributing ‘pro-Hamas propaganda’ on campus and said the administration would not tolerate people coming to study in the U.S. and siding with ‘pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans.’
