Good Riddance, Mahmoud Khalil

One of the organizers of the protest was Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a group often led by Syrian national Mahmoud Khalil.

Khalil, a former graduate student, is now detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and now faces deportation, an enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive orders "prohibiting anti-Semitism." I am assured by Democrats that his deportation is a ghastly assault on free speech.

Now, like anyone in the United States, Khalil enjoys the First Amendment right to spread his message. Being a bigot and warmonger isn't a crime. Free expression is a fundamental and universal right. And one hopes Khalil will be free to express his opinions unfettered in his homeland of Syria or Algeria, where he is a citizen. Because he has no constitutional right to be in the U.S.

You don't need to be convicted of a crime to lose your immigration status. The immigration card system exists so that newcomers can be properly vetted. To become a citizen, you must exhibit "good moral character," a criterion that Khalil doesn't come close to meeting by any objective standard. Just obey the law, pay taxes, and stay out of trouble. Orchestrating and participating in harassment, vandalism, bigotry and civil unrest at a once-esteemed Ivy League university falls under the label of "trouble."

Then again, according to 8 U.S.C. Section 1227(a)(4)(B), Khalil's permanent residency can also be denied or revoked if he "endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization." (My italics.)

Khalil, who came here initially on a student visa, does little else. The CUAD brags about fighting for the "total eradication of Western civilization" and explicitly advocates "global intifada" and "armed resistance" by Hamas, an organization designated a terrorist group by the U.S. Justice Department. As The New York Times reported last year, the group was "openly supporting militant groups fighting Israel and rescinding an apology it made after one of its members said the school was lucky he wasn't out killing Zionists." (Me again.)

One of the accusations against Khalil, leveled by Columbia's new Office of Institutional Equity, is that he organized an event glorifying Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Hamas, of course, not only murdered 35 Americans on Oct. 7, but numerous citizens before that day. The first and second "intifadas" were responsible for the deaths of more American citizens, including children and diplomatic personnel. Since Khalil is so fond of the intifada, maybe he can now join his friends on the front lines.

Khalil's defenders contend that his only crime was being "critical of Israel" - a popular euphemism for advocating the destruction of the Jewish state. No one has ever stopped anyone from being critical of Israel. If Khalil were merely writing or giving speeches offering the customary fantasies about "genocide" and "occupation" instead of organizing illegal "protests" on Columbia University grounds, no one would have noticed he existed. Blocking access to buildings and classes and intimidating Jewish students, tactics adopted by Khalil's group, do not constitute "free expression."

Khalil, it should be remembered, promised that protests and encampments were just the beginning — "the limit is the sky," he said. The sky apparently means having masked nutjobs barging into classes while passing out flyers that illustrated a boot stamping on a Star of David. Khalil and his minions, much like Klansmen, use keffiyehs instead of white sheets to hide their faces so they can get away with crime and intimidate people.

And eventually, these "protests" turned violent. When 200 rioters swarmed the Barnard College library recently, vandalizing the place and barricading themselves in the building, draping a giant flag calling for "intifada," the CUAD took credit. When rioters trashed and took over Hamilton Hall in 2024, Khalil represented them as a "negotiator."

Let's also remember that simply because these rioters and their leaders, who rarely do the dirty work themselves, are offered immunity by leftist district attorneys like Alvin Bragg doesn't mean they aren't engaged in criminality. Everyone in the mob who wrecked Hamilton Hall and attacked a Columbia custodian was let off the hook by NYC's radical DA.

Will Khalil be deported? Who knows. Due process can take a long time. In the end, though, if we're a nation that's compelled to hand citizenship to foreigners who lead groups that hang "Death to America" banners at their protests, we are on a suicide mission.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• 03/03/25: Mitch McConnell: A GOP Hall of Famer?
• 02/21/25: RFK's Dangerous Autism Lie
• 02/14/25: It's Time to End the EV Racket
• 02/07/25: If You Really Support Immigration, Stop Excusing Chaos
• 02/03/25: Trump's Gaza Proposal Makes Complete Sense
• 01/24/25: How Biden's Pardons Normalize Abuse of Power
• 01/17/25: Israel Makes a Deal With the Actual Devil
• 01/13/25: Why Javier Milei Matters
• 12/20/24: The Obama Doctrine Is Dead
• 12/13/24: It's time for a national conversation about left-wing violence
• 12/09/24: It's time for a national conversation about left-wing violence
• 11/08/24: Don't Trash the Constitution to Dunk on the Libs
• 11/08/24: This 'liberation' will NOT be reported
• 11/01/24: HARRIS Is the Bigger Threat to the Constitutional Order
• 09/20/24: Fact checked! Harris Is the Extremist
• 07/13/24: Explain Yourself, Kamala Harris!
• 07/05/24: How Biden's Mental Decline Went From 'Misinformation' to Fact in a Week
• 04/12/24: Biden Is Now Chasing the 'Death to America' Voter
• 03/15/24: Turns Out Biden Lied About Hur, Beau, And Why He Pilfered Classified Docs
• 02/09/24: Why Biden Is Threatening to Veto Aid to Israel
• 02/09/23: Electric Cars Are a Scam
• 06/30/23: Americans Have Never Been Less Threatened by 'Extreme Weather'
• 03/03/23: Questioning Biden's Ukraine Policy Doesn't Make You an 'Isolationist'
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• 01/13/23: On Classified Documents, Joe Biden Is Out of Excuses
• 04/29/22: Biden's Ministry of Truth
• 04/08/22: The Most Radical Abortion Law in the Nation
• 04/01/22: Recuse Yourself, Joe Biden
• 03/25/22: No, School Boards Are Not 'Banning Books'
• 03/11/22: Let Them Drive Teslas
• 01/28/22: It's Not Government's Job to 'Root Out' Misinformation
• 01/14/22: Biden's Big Elections Lie
• 01/07/22: Schumer's Ugly 'Voting Rights' Gamble
• 12/24/21:AOC's Grasp on American Governance Is a 'Farce'
• 12/17/21: Dems Pivot from Build Back Better to Useless Extremism
• 11/19/21: Reckoning' Over Steele Dossier?
• 10/15/21: The Biden White House Will Pay for Playing Inflation Games
• 09/24/21: The most demonstrable political scandal still ignored
• 09/17/21: Sorry, AOC, The Rich Already Pay Their Fair Share
• 09/02/21: Why Isn't Biden to Blame for COVID-19 Deaths?
• 08/06/21: Biden's Unprecedented Attack on the Constitution
• 07/30/21: Jan. 6 Was Deplorable. It Was NOT a Coup
• 06/21/21: The Myth of Republican Obstructionism
• 05/21/21: What Does Putin Have on Biden?
• 04/16/21: Kristen Clarke Is Unfit to Be in Government
• 03/26/21: No to DC Statehood is far from GOP being reflexive
• 03/22/21: Biden Prepares to Strip College Students of Due Process Rights The Hypocrisy of the Filibuster Busters
• 03/12/21: Biden Prepares to Strip College Students of Due Process Rights
• 03/05/21: AOC's Terrible Minimum Wage Argument
• 02/12/21: The Dem Party Is Radicalizing against the Constitution
• 02/05/21: What NOT to Do with Marjorie Taylor Greene
• 01/15/21: Free Speech Is a Value Not Just a Right
• 12/31/20: It Can't Get Any Worse Than 2020. Here's a 2021 Political Wish List
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• 10/26/20: These are the questions 'Big Guy' Biden must be forced to answer about Hunter's emails
• 09/11/20: The Dems' Dangerous Delegitimization of the Election
• 08/28/20: Biden Is Underperforming Hillary in Battleground States
• 08/14/20: Kamala Harris, Imaginary Centrist
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• 07/17/20: Speech Police have finally gone too far
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• 06/22/20: Welcome to America's Cultural Revolution
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• 05/28/20: The Folly of Twitter's Fact-Check
• 05/22/20: Dems Warning Trump Will Reject Election Results Should Look in the Mirror
• 05/15/20: Obamagate Is NOT a Conspiracy Theory
• 05/08/20: Really, Joe --- due process is the opposite of justice?