The American Jewish Committee became the latest mainstream Jewish group to cautiously celebrate the arrest and planned deportation of anti-Israel Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, saying the former graduate student’s deportation was “fully justified” as long as he is afforded due process. 

“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,” the American Jewish Committee said in a statement on Tuesday. 

“Universities have an obligation to ensure that antisemitic behavior such as his does not lead to intimidation and harassment of Jewish students,” the AJC statement said. “U.S. law is clear regarding the necessary predicate that justifies deportation. Under that law, there is a difference between protected speech, even when deplorable, and statements and actions that justify deportation.” 

In a statement posted to X on Sunday, the Anti-Defamation League praised the Trump administration for acting on its long-standing commitment to deport foreign students who support terrorism. “This action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions,” the ADL said. 

The antisemitism watchdog echoed that “any deportation action or revocation of a Green Card or visa must be undertaken in alignment with required due process protections.”

Immigration authorities arrested Khalil, who led last year’s anti-Israel campus protests against the war in Gaza and subsequent negotiations with university administration, at his home on Saturday night. 

The White House said on Tuesday that the government’s authority to arrest and deport Khalil comes from the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that if the secretary of state has “reasonable grounds” to believe that a migrant poses “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” to the United States, that person is eligible for deportation. 

Khalil, who grew up in Syria but is of Palestinian descent, first came to the U.S. on a student visa, and later married a U.S. citizen and received a green card. He has not been charged with a crime. 

Mark Hetfield, president of the Jewish refugee advocacy group HIAS, said that even the threat of deporting Khalil “should frighten all of us.” 

“The threat to American civil liberties of such a blatantly political deportation would be grave, and the threat to U.S. foreign policy priorities of a protester remaining here would be negligible,” Hetfield said in a statement. 

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, called the arrest a breach of democracy and rule of law. 

“Any Jew who thinks this is going to start & stop with a few Palestinian activists is fooling themself,” Spitalnick wrote on X. “Our community is not an excuse to upend democracy & the rule of law.” 

Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, shared similar concerns in a statement. “Deporting legal residents from our country without due process because we disagree with their views is un-American and will make neither Jews nor our democracy more secure,” Soifer said. “We don’t revoke First Amendment rights or green cards to punish free speech, even if we disagree with it.”