Summary
A federal judge blocked the removal of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from the U.S. after his arrest by ICE.
Khalil, a Columbia University graduate who helped organize pro-Palestinian protests, was arrested Saturday by ICE agents who claimed his visa was revoked for supporting Hamas.
The Trump administration continues to claim he violated an executive order prohibiting anti-Semitism, though no evidence was provided. Protesters in NYC demand his release, calling the arrest unconstitutional.
His location remains unclear. The ACLU and immigrant rights groups argue the detention violates free speech, warning it sets a dangerous precedent.
I have read conflicting sources on his citizenship. Some have said he’s a naturalized citizen, and if that is the case why wouldn’t the first amendment apply to him? How can anyone be secure in their status as a citizen if it can be revoked for reasons that only apply to non-citizens?
1A rights apply to all
They absolutely should!!
No “should” needed. The first amendment doesn’t say “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech of citizens”, it says shall make no law period.
Constitutional rights are based on personhood, not citizenship. Mahmoud Khalil’s 1A rights were violated, plain simple.
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S8-C18-8-7-2/ALDE_00001262/
I’m sure that he’s not. It’s established case law that (a) US citizen cannot be denied entry to the US and (b) that a legitimately-granted citizenship cannot subsequently be constitutionally revoked by the government; revocation must be voluntary. Like, this wouldn’t be an argument were it not.
kagis
https://time.com/7266683/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-green-card/
Yeah. If you have a green card, you’re on the path to citizenship…but you do not yet have citizenship.
EDIT: WRT my above statement:
SCOTUS ruling that involuntary removal of citizenship is unconstitutional: Afroyim v. Rusk.
His wife is a citizen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Khalil_(activist)
However, SCOTUS has ruled that the right of a US citizen to enter the United States does not extend to a non-citizen spouse:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/supreme-court-says-u-s-citizens-don-t-have-right-to-bring-noncitizen-spouses-to-u-s/ar-BB1oFzGW
Thank you for finding a better source than whatever my search engine was throwing at me. It didn’t make any sense that they’d start with someone granted citizenship, and all the sense that they’re going to make an example out of an immigrant still seeking citizenship.
No problem. I should add that immigration law is complicated as all hell, and sometimes very unintuitive, and the situation has changed over the years. And I’m not an immigration lawyer, so I’m just giving my best layman’s understanding from what past case law and history I’ve read.
I’d also reiterate that it’s not as if SCOTUS has said “the First Amendment doesn’t protect the guy” against deportation for his speech. It just hasn’t ruled that it does: there’s been no ruling to define the scope of the Constitution on the matter that I’m aware of.
I’d also bet that there are a lot of wrinkles there. The rationale that the Executive Branch has used in the past to justify use of speech as a filter for permitting entry to the US is “national security”. But I think — without looking into the matter — that it’s likely difficult to characterize the guy as a threat to US national security. Israel’s national security, maybe. But the US’s? I think that that’s a harder case to make. So…I’m not actually sure that even if SCOTUS takes a case and rules that you can use speech as a criteria for disallowing entry for non-citizens to the US on national security grounds, that it’d agree with the Executive Branch on this guy being deportable.