Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) are circulating a letter to administration officials defending detained Columbia University anti-Israel leader Mahmoud Khalil and questioning the authorities supporting his detention and revocation of his green card.

The letter had gathered over 100 signatures by Thursday evening, a source familiar with the situation said. It does not mention or acknowledge the specific nature of Khalil’s activities on Columbia’s campus, including his involvement with the anti-Israel encampment and the alleged distribution of pro-Hamas pamphlets at a protest he helped organize.

Khalil was also reportedly under investigation by Columbia itself for helping to organize an unauthorized protest where demonstrators supported Hamas and being involved in social media posts attacking Zionism and other acts of discrimination.

The letter focuses primarily on challenging the legal underpinnings of Khalil’s arrest, which the administration has said is based on an infrequently used law allowing the secretary of state to revoke the visa of any foreign national whose presence or activities pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

The letter repeatedly accuses the administration of violating Khalil’s free speech rights and attempting to silence him for dissenting.

“We write to express our grave concern over the constitutionally dubious use of an obsolete Cold War-era section of the Immigration and Nationality Act to have federal agents pick up a lawful permanent resident at his home, arrest him, and detain him simply for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech,” the letter reads.

It refers to the law in question as “a dusty old statutory section,” compares its use to the Alien and Sedition Acts and McCarthyism and says the administration has failed to outline the foreign policy effects of Khalil’s “exercising his free speech rights.”

“While this case is ostensibly about Mr. Khalil’s political speech about the war in Gaza, the case raises far broader concerns across the country about the silencing of political dissent,” the lawmakers continued, comparing it to the actions of authoritarian regimes. 

“While there may be disagreement with Mr. Khalil’s speech, it is his Constitutional right in our democracy to express his political views. That is why every American should be outraged by this brazen attempt to use the power of the United States government to silence and punish people who do not agree with the sitting president.”

The lawmakers also argued that the decision would inevitably be overturned in court, and requested information from the administration about past use of the statute in question and about the specific reasons, evidence and legal findings underlying the decision to detain Khalil and revoke his green card.

Another, more stridently worded letter, circulated by far-left lawmakers earlier in the week netted just 14 Democrats’ signatures.