Left-wing lawmakers condemned the Trump administration’s decision to detain Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student who was a leader in anti-Israel campus protests, while several pro-Israel Democrats were taking a wait-and-see approach, underscoring the scourge of campus antisemitism while also acknowledging the need for due process. 

The administration accused Syrian-born Khalil, a green card holder, of organizing pro-Hamas protests, although the precise legal justification for his detention and potential deportation remained unclear. A federal judge temporarily halted Khalil’s deportation pending a legal challenge.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, repeatedly defended Khalil, posting “Free Mahmoud Khalil” and accusing the administration of arresting Khalil because administration officials “didn’t agree with what he said” in his legitimate exercise of free speech rights.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) characterized the arrest and detention as a potential overreach, stating that the university disciplinary process should handle any violations of Jewish students’ rights.

“In the context of the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, DHS must produce facts and evidence of criminal activity. Absent evidence of a crime, such as providing material support for a terrorist organization, the actions undertaken by the Trump administration are wildly inconsistent with the United States Constitution,” Jeffries said in a statement. “A judge has blocked this egregious removal pending further action and, along with [New York] Attorney General Letitia James, we will continue monitoring this developing situation closely.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) posted, “If the federal government can disappear a legal US permanent resident without reason or warrant, then they can disappear US citizens too.” Other progressive lawmakers also suggested that U.S. citizens could be targeted next.

According to ICE, Khalil was transferred to a Louisiana facility; his whereabouts had been unclear earlier on Monday.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) collected signatures from fellow lawmakers on a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, which she planned to send on Tuesday morning, a source familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider.

A draft version of the letter obtained by JI accuses the administration of having “effectively disappeared” Khalil and demands his immediate release and a halt to any further similar detentions. It also characterizes him as a “political prisoner” and victim of “anti-Palestinian racism.” Khalil is of Palestinian descent.

“Khalil has not been charged or convicted of any crime,” the letter reads. “As the Trump administration proudly admits, he was targeted solely for his activism and organizing as a student leader and negotiator for the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Columbia University campus, protesting the Israeli government’s brutal assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza and his university’s complicity in this oppression.”

The Tlaib letter further states that “if unchecked, this authoritarian playbook will be applied to any and all opposition to his undemocratic agenda” and that the arrest is a threat to all Americans. It also calls on universities to “protect their students from this vile assault on free thought and expression.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) expressed concern about the situation but said he needed to be briefed on the details. “I’m alarmed. I don’t know the facts, but I’m alarmed,” Schatz told JI. 

“It was never about free speech, it was about controlling the kind of speech they like,” Schatz said when asked about the move coming from the Trump administration, which campaigned on protecting free speech. “Last I checked, it’s still legal to have unpopular or even offensive political opinions and so I’d like to understand the facts a little bit, but this seems like a pretty big screw up.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), a co-chair of the House Jewish Caucus, said he’s monitoring the situation but added that “the warrantless arrest of any legal permanent resident seemingly solely over their speech is a chilling, McCarthyesque action in response to the exercise of First Amendment rights to free speech” and an illegal move that will not protect Jewish students.

Some pro-Israel moderate Democrats told JI they didn’t know enough about the situation to weigh in, while others sounded cautiously supportive of the policy in general terms.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told JI that more details on the case are necessary and that everyone should receive due process.

As a general matter, he continued, “If you’re here as a foreign student … and you’re attending Hamas rallies, then yes, your tourism visa or your student visa should be looked at. I don’t know the particulars of this case, but he should be getting due process.”

“We need the details,” Moskowitz reiterated. “If he turns out that he’s organizing Hamas rallies, then it’s something that needs to be looked at.”

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY) told JI she was “very concerned about violence on college campuses … I think that we have to treat people who behave that way with the seriousness it requires.”

House Republicans largely backed the move.

“We’ve all seen the appalling groups of masked pro-Hamas protestors terrorizing college campuses and intimidating American students. I do not think the State Department is out of bounds by revoking the visas of individuals that are breaking the law,” Rep. Craig Goldman (R-TX), a Jewish House Republican, told JI. “It is a privilege to come into the United States and participate in our higher education system — this does not give a foreign individual the right to commit crimes, support terrorism, promote antisemitism, and intimidate American students.”

Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, described Khalil as a terrorist sympathizer and an enemy of the United States.

“If Mahmoud Khalil told customs officers when he entered the U.S. that he was coming here to intimidate and harass American Jews, shout death to America, promote Hamas, and occupy campus buildings they would have not let him in,” Mast said in a statement.

“We only have one nation and if we don’t defend it from all enemies foreign and domestic — nobody else will,” he continued. “I applaud President Trump and Secretary Rubio for leading with common sense and kicking terrorist sympathizers out of our country. It’s time for them all to leave.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said that the deportation is “long overdue.”

“Being a foreign student or having a green card is a privilege, not a right,” Lawler said. “If you are going to engage in antisemitic protest and violate the rights and freedoms of other students, your visa and/or green card can and should be revoked.”

Some Senate Republicans are taking a more cautious stance, saying they’re waiting for the details of the case to play out.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who spoke at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week in favor of deporting visa holders involved in pro-Hamas activity, said he didn’t know the details of the case or whether Khalil had committed illegal activity or violated the terms of his green card.

“The question would be, did he violate the terms of his status? I just don’t know the answer,” Hawley said, asked if the case raises First Amendment concerns. “I’d have to go look, as a legal matter … It depends on what the terms are that you agree to come into this country.”

More broadly, Hawley continued, he is “all for revoking visas of students who commit unlawful activity” such as vandalism, assault and trespassing. “If they are protesting peacefully, that’s fine. I don’t like what they’re saying in these cases, but that’s the First Amendment.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said in a CNN interview that Khalil would receive due process and that non-citizens who support terrorist groups were subject to deportation, but acknowledged that Khalil said he does not support Hamas and had denied involvement in illegal or discriminatory behavior on Columbia’s campus.

“We’ll find out who’s right,” Kennedy said. “The Immigration and Naturalization Act, though, is fairly broad. And if the administration can show acts directly and probably indirectly supporting Hamas, they’ll deport him, and he should be deported, if that’s what’s shown in court.”