Columbia refusing to help identify ‘pro-Hamas’ students, White House says
“Mahmoud Khalil was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country,” the White House press secretary said. “He took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege, by siding with terrorists.”
Columbia University is refusing to help the U.S. Department of Homeland Security identify students from a list of individuals, who have “engaged in pro-Hamas activity” on campus, the White House said Tuesday.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters at a briefing that the department has gathered the names of other individuals it believes have fallen afoul of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to combat antisemitism.
“They have been using intelligence to identify individuals on our nation’s colleges and universities—on our college campuses—who have engaged in such behavior and activity, and especially illegal activity,” Leavitt said.
“I don’t have a readout on how many arrests will come, but I do know that DHS is actively working on it,” she said. “I also know that Columbia University has been given the names of other individuals, who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity, and they are refusing to help DHS identify those individuals on campus.”
“As the president said very strongly in his statement yesterday, he is not going to tolerate that,” she said.
JNS sought comment from Columbia. A spokesman for the university pointed JNS to a statement from Columbia’s interim president saying that the school has and will continue to “follow the law” and that it has a longstanding policy of denying law enforcement access to non-public campus areas unless they have a warrant.
The White House’s claim that Columbia is refusing to cooperate with the department’s investigation comes amid ongoing controversy over deportation proceedings against Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia graduate, who is a leader of the anti-Israel protest movement on Columbia’s campus.
Khalil is reportedly an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, who was born in Syria and entered the United States on a student visa before obtaining a green card and becoming a legal permanent resident. He is also married to a U.S. citizen.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Khalil on Saturday, and he is currently being held at the La Salle Detention Facility in Jena, La.
It is not clear whether Khalil has been charged with a crime, leading many Democrats and civil liberties organizations to argue that his actions were protected speech, in which a permanent resident has the right to engage, and that he should be released.
A federal judge ordered on Monday that Khalil’s deportation be halted until the court orders otherwise and that a hearing be held on Wednesday.
Leavitt gave more information on Tuesday about what the government’s case against Khalil might look like.
“This is an individual, who organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro-Hamas propaganda flyers with the logo of Hamas,” Leavitt said. “I have those flyers on my desk.”
Leavitt also argued that Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, has the authority to deport anyone who is “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States.”
“Mahmoud Khalil was an individual, who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges,” she said. “He took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege, by siding with terrorists.”
Khalil’s case may hinge on the extent to which a legal permanent resident, as opposed to a U.S. citizen, enjoys the full protections of the First Amendment. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 allows for the denial of entry and deportation of “any alien,” who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity.”
That bar is lower than the criminal charge of material support for terrorism, which forbids more concrete activities that directly aid a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, fundraising for a terrorist group or recruiting for a terrorist group.
Some local governments and the State of Florida have tried to use littering ordinances to prevent the distribution of antisemitic leaflets because that activity is otherwise protected by the First Amendment.
The American Jewish Committee said on Tuesday that it is “appalled” by Khalil’s views but that he has a right to a legal process to determine if he violated the law.
“U.S. law is clear regarding the necessary predicate that justifies deportation,” the AJC stated. “Under that law, there is a difference between protected speech, even when deplorable, and statements and actions that justify deportation.”
“Should the government prove its case in a prompt and public legal proceeding, and Khalil is afforded due process, then deportation will be fully justified,” it added.
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