Fourteen US Congress members have demanded that the Trump administration immediately release Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and a US resident known for his advocacy for Palestinian rights, saying the administration's "illegal actions set a dangerous precedent."
In a letter to Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland and Security's (DHS) secretary, the lawmakers said they "are horrified by the recent illegal abduction and now indefinite detention" of Khalil by DHS agents, unequivocally demanding his immediate release from DHS custody.
"Khalil has not been charged or convicted of any crime. As the administration proudly admits, he was targeted solely for his activism and organising as a student leader and negotiator for the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Columbia University campus, protesting the Israeli government's brutal assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza and his university's complicity in this oppression," they said.
Khalil after his arrest was transferred over 2,100 kilometres away from his home to a site run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in central Louisiana state, the letter said, adding Khalil's constitutional rights have been violated.
"He has been denied meaningful access to counsel and any visitation from his family. This is absolutely unacceptable — and illegal."
Khalil, one of the most prominent faces of the university's protest movement that erupted in response to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, was arrested on Sunday, officials said, adding the action was taken "in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State."
But the Student Workers of Columbia Union said in a statement that Khalil had been detained on Saturday, describing him as "a Palestinian recent Columbia graduate and lead negotiator for last spring's Gaza solidarity encampment."
A federal judge has issued a temporary block on Khalil's deportation and his arrest has sparked a broader debate over freedom of speech, the rights of political activists and the depth of pro-Israel bias within the American administration.
TRT Global - "To preserve the Court's jurisdiction pending a ruling on the petition, Petitioner shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise," the judge says.
'Threat to all Americans'
US campuses including Columbia's in New York were rocked by student protests against Israel's carnage in Gaza that has left more than 62,000 Palestinians dead, over 120,000 wounded, and almost entire 2.4 million people uprooted who now face another disaster as Israel prepares to resume its genocidal campaign if Palestinians do not yield to Tel Aviv's demands.
Trump has railed against the student protest movement linked to Israel's genocide in Gaza and vowed to deport foreign students who had demonstrated. He has also threatened to cut off federal funding for institutions that he said were not doing enough to combat alleged anti-Semitism. Critics say criticising Israeli policies does not anyway amount to anti-Semitism.
"This illegal political justification has been stated clearly by figures throughout the administration, including the president himself," Congress members including Rashida Tlaib, Mark Pocan, Summer L. Lee, Delia C Ramirez, Ayanna Pressley and others, wrote in the letter.
"We must be extremely clear: this is an attempt to criminalise political protest and is a direct assault on the freedom of speech of everyone in this country. Khalil's arrest is an act of anti-Palestinian racism intended to silence the Palestine solidarity movement in this country, but this lawless abuse of power and political repression is a threat to all Americans," the Congress members warned.
They described Khalil as a political prisoner who was "wrongfully and unlawfully detained" and "who deserves to be at home in New York preparing the birth of his first child."
