For the conservative pundit class, few issues have been as central to their cause as their supposed defense of free speech. Over the last decade, they have built a powerful political movement revolting against the force of so-called cancel culture, which they argued had restricted permissible dialogue and punished free thinkers willing to speak their own truths.
But as the Trump regime moves to expel from this country a Palestinian U.S. permanent resident based solely on his political expression, many of those free speech warriors have changed their tune. The arrest and attempted deportation of Columbia University graduate and green card holder Mahmoud Khalil demonstrates the clear hypocrisy of many conservative voices when it comes to free speech in America. Conservatives who previously opposed “cancel culture” on the grounds of defending free speech are now quick to support state violence against critics of Israel through the arrest and expulsion of those critics from U.S. society.
On March 8, officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrived at the home of Khalil and arrested him, separating him from his wife, a U.S. citizen who is 8 months pregnant. He was ultimately moved to a detention facility in Louisiana, a friendly jurisdiction for government cases against immigrants. Though Trump’s desire to immediately deport the legal U.S. permanent resident has been temporarily blocked by Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York, the threat against him remains. After speaking with Khalil on Tuesday, his attorney Amy Greer said that he “is moved by the extraordinarily broad and steadfast support he has received from a variety of communities that understand what is at stake.”
Khalil faces no criminal charges, and no evidence has been offered to substantiate the Trump administration’s propagandistic claims that he is a “national security threat” who was “inciting violence,” in the words of Trump border czar Tom Homan. Indeed, top White House and Republican Party officials have essentially admitted that Khalil has not committed any crime. Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified his attempt to deport Khalil by claiming — without evidence — that he supports Hamas and “antisemitic activities.” This demonstrates that even as Rubio grossly misrepresents Khalil’s politics, he is actually attempting to deport Khalil because of his alleged politics. When asked what crime Khalil committed, House Speaker Mike Johnson reverted to propaganda talking points.
It is worth noting what Khalil has actually said. In a 2024 interview with CNN, Khalil stated, “As a Palestinian student, I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand and you cannot achieve one without the other. Our movement is a movement for social justice and freedom and equality for everyone.”
Opinion
Gov-Politics
