Tom Homan, the Trump administration's border czar, suggested all green card holders could be subjected for deportation if they commit a crime. The official made the claim after the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a high-profile leader of pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University.
Speaking to Fox Business, Homan defended the decision to apprehend Khali, saying "any resident alien who commits a crime is eligible for deportation." "Did he violate the terms of his visa? Did he violate the terms of his residency here, you know, committing crimes, attacking Israeli students, locking down buildings, destroying property? Absolutely," he added.
Khalil was detained on Saturday night by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who said had been given an order to revoke his green card. President Donald Trump celebrated the detention.
"Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
"This is the first arrest of many to come," Trump continued. "We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it."
"We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here," he added.
Some Democrats are protesting the decision, among them Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib. "Free Mahmoud Khalil. This is straight out of the fascist playbook. Criminalizing dissent is an assault on our First Amendment and freedom of speech," she said in a post on X.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said she is "extremely concerned about the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, an advocate and legal permanent resident of Palestinian descent." "My office is monitoring the situation, and we are in contact with his attorney," she added.
Khalil had been transferred to the La Salle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana, but a federal judge stopped his deportation at least until next Wednesday when he has a court hearing. "To preserve the Court's jurisdiction pending a ruling on the petition, Petitioner shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise," says the court order, reported by the Daily Mail.
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