Police State Tactics Come to America

I had a post all ready to go this morning, but I am going to save that for later and address another topic. One way that fascists and authoritarians win is by starting on the margins and normalizing their behavior by acting against unpopular targets. This creeping authoritarianism then spreads and, sort of like the analogy of boiling a frog, one morning the country's population wakes up and realizes that it is no longer free but has no idea how it got there. Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump and Shadow President Elon Musk clearly have authoritarian tendencies and deserve no benefit of the doubt. But, one administration official who was thought to be the adult in the room, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has now shown that he is not only willing to condone the impingement of freedom in the United States but is an active participant. This warning sign of danger comes in the form of the detainment and disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil, a student protester at Columbia University.

Khalil was a negotiator for student protesters at Columbia, and his detention appears to be part of an effort by the Trump administration to retaliate against those who protested Israel's genocide in Gaza. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided Khalil's apartment — apparently without a warrant — late Saturday night, saying that they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa. However, Khalil does not have a student visa. Rather, he has permanent residency, or a green card. His wife, who is 8 months pregnant, is a U.S. citizen. She was also threatened with arrest. When the ICE agents were told that Khalil is a green card holder, they said that was being revoked instead. However, neither ICE nor the State Department has that authority. Nevertheless, Khalil was taken away, and the government has refused to reveal his location. His lawyer has been unable to track him down, and Khalil's wife has been given incorrect information about where he is being held.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Khalil has been arrested, saying that it was "in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism." The DHS spokesperson further stated that Khalil "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization." Both of these allegations are amorphous. Since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and Israel's subsequent destruction of Gaza, Israel's supporters have sought — in many cases successfully — to define any objection to the country's genocidal actions as being antisemitic and pro-Hamas. Moreover, DHS did not allege material support for Hamas, but simply "activities aligned." Therefore, something as mundane as calling for a ceasefire — a goal that aligns with Hamas' interests — would suffice. There is no indication that Khalil has been charged with any crimes and has apparently been detained without charges. Rubio tweeted that "We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported." Simply being a "Hamas supporter" is not a violation of law. To the contrary, speech supporting the organization is protected by the First Amendment. Rubio is clearly stating his intention to deport those who have committed no criminal acts or even civil violations.

There should be no mistaking what has happened here. A permanent resident of the United States was detained and disappeared without charges. This is the sort of action that might have happened in Stalin's Soviet Union or any number of dictatorial regimes that Americans were once taught were the antithesis of America and its freedoms. If Khalil has violated a law, he should be charged, he should be tried, and, if found guilty, he should be punished. But seizing him from his home and spiriting him away to an unknown location on no known legal basis is simply un-American. This is not how the rule of law is supposed to work in this country, and nobody should find these actions acceptable.

As the Forward magazine reported recently, the legal basis of the Trump administration's plans to deport student protesters is a McCarthy-era antisemitic law that was once used against "Jewish Holocaust survivors suspected of Soviet sympathies." The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, known as the McCarran-Walter Act, was broadly opposed by Jewish groups at the time. The Forward quotes then Anti-Defamation League (ADL) president Benjamin Epstein as saying, the McCarran-Walter Act was an example of "the worst kind of legislation, discriminatory and abusive of American concepts and ideals." Now, however, the ADL has seemed to have lost its way. Not only did ADL Director Jonathan Greenblatt condone Musk's recent Nazi salute, but the ADL issued a statement applauding the detainment of Khalil. This seems extremely shortsighted. As journalist Jesse Singal posted on the X social media platform, "Given our unique history, any Jew or Jewish organization that supports the arbitrary violation of well-established residency laws in the form of arbitrary detention should take a really hard goddamn look in the mirror." It should be noted that the McCarran-Walter Act likely does not apply in this case because Khalil is a green card holder.

You don't have to support Khalil or agree with him about anything to understand that government agents grabbing people from their homes and secreting them off to undisclosed locations in response to nothing other than their speech is wrong. If you do agree with such actions, you really need to rethink your commitment to what were once considered American values. I am prone to agree that the quote of Martin Niemöller about "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out" is overused. But this is exactly the situation in which it applies. They are coming first for the Palestinians and, even though I am not a Palestinian, I am speaking out.

Update: 404media.co is reporting that ICE's detainee locator system shows that Khalil is being detained in an ICE facility in Louisiana. ICE may have transferred him there in hopes of finding a judge more sympathetic to the government. ICE has a facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey in which Khalil was initially reported as being held. However, when his wife went to the location she was told he was not there.