Columbia University is under Turmoil as the Trump administration demands changes
Mahmoud, Hamas, and the Immigration and Nationality Act (II): How much do the authorities deem a terrorist organization?
Shpruch: So, even though this law does not require them to charge him with a crime, they do have a burden of proof. Let me ask you about the government’s basic claim here, which is that your client supported Hamas, which the U.S. deems a terrorist organization. Do you know how they are defining “support”?
All of the laws use terms that can be interpreted in different ways by the courts. Part of any legal argument is how those words should be defined.
Shapiro: You don’t know if the government is talking about something by holding a sign, setting a tent or sending money. We’ve tried to get a response. We haven’t been able to. I wonder if you’ve been able to.
There’s a person named Greer. No, you’ve seen the same things we have, basically. The publicly filed papers are what we have also seen. There’s been no evidence produced in this case yet. There haven’t been any litigation where there’s discovery handed over. What we know is that the INA is being used to try to remove him and that the president and secretary of state have made statements from their bully pulpit.
Greer: Yes. I mean, I’m not sure that they could necessarily do it to somebody who was born in the United States — there are some more complications there. There are areas of our law, and who those areas of the law apply to, and who they don’t, that should cause us pause because of this administration’s complaints about challenging naturalized citizenship. And I think that, obviously, that would require a significant rollback of the rule of law and the standards that we have traditionally followed, the precedents that our courts have traditionally followed. But in this day and age, I think it would be silly of us not to take these threats very seriously.
The person is referred to as “Greer.” In removal proceedings, parts of that process will be heard. This is from the Immigration and Nationality Act. This is not like a criminal statute. Mahmoud has not been charged with any crime. It’s not likely that he will be heard on this issue in a court like our Constitutional Court. This act is played out in immigration court. The habeas petition that has been filed is a challenge to the specific provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act which is being applied to Mahmoud. But also, in an immigration context, the Department of State has certain obligations under that statute to provide certain information. And the efforts will be to challenge both the statute itself, the use of the statute in this particular case and the vagaries of the statute.
Ari Shapiro: Yesterday, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, argued that even people with a green card do not have an absolute right to remain in the United States. The protests that your client helped lead at Columbia last year were characterized this way.
Amy Greer: I’ve obviously listened to that a number of times now and it just doesn’t make any sense to me, to be honest with you. I understand that [Rubio] has the bully pulpit here, but it doesn’t make any sense. The right to freedom of speech in the United States is a right for all of us, including lawful permanent residents. And I’m not attributing any of that speech necessarily to Mahmoud, but generally speaking, those statements mean [that] any time somebody in this country says something that this administration doesn’t like it renders them deportable. That is not how this country should operate.
“You’re afraid to go to class because these lunatics are running around with covers on their face, screaming, terrifying things. We would never allow you into our country if you told us you intended to do that. And if you do it, once you get in, we’re going to revoke it and kick you out.”
Source: ‘Doesn’t make any sense’: Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyer on govt. efforts to deport him
The case for a pro-Palestinian protest: The Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Ben-Ami, speaks out against the President’s racist actions
In an interview with All Things Considered, he stated that his legal team had finally been able to speak with him. He must be granted a privileged call with his lawyers, according to the judge. He said he is trying to do his best in the moment.
Attorneys for the man argue that his arrest is a violation of the First Amendment because he is not a supporter of Hamas. A federal judge in New York is determining whether or not to order Khalil’s release.
In a interview with Morning Edition’sMichel Martin, Troy Edgar, Department of Homeland Security deputy secretary, was not able to specify specific examples of how Khalil’s conduct would constitute such activity.
He was arrested by ICE officers on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment in front of his wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant. His student visa was canceled after his arrest. He isn’t a visa holder. There is a Syrians of Palestinian descent named Khalil, who is a lawful permanent United States resident. His lawyer said that authorities had stripped him of his green card.
The recent graduate from Columbia University who participated in a pro-Palestinian protest last year is currently being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Louisiana facility.
By taking this step, and justifying it as protecting Jewish students, the Trump administration is abusing real fears of Jewish Americans about rising antisemitism, Ben-Ami said in a press release.
U.S. Universities Should Close Their Eyes Close to Israel: Students and Leaders in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest protests
The government said Columbia has more than five billion dollars in federal grant commitments even after the $400 million cuts. According to the Associated Press, the National Institutes of Health grants that Columbia’s medical center depends on have been reduced by the last week’s cuts.
These protests are called mostly antisemitic by the Trump administration. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups that organized the pro-Palestinian protests, include Jewish students and groups among its organizers and participants.
It is painful to see that Jewish Americans are worried that the Trump Administration might abuse antisemitism to advance their agenda, such as civil rights to immigration and higher education.
On Thursday night, immigration agents from the Department of Homeland Security searched two student residences at Columbia. They left without making any arrests or seizing any evidence, Gothamist, an NPR affiliate, reported.
Columbia’s interim president wrote a message to the school community explaining that the officers were allowed to enter non-public areas of the university and conduct searches of two student rooms.
It continues, “U.S. taxpayers invest enormously in U.S. colleges and universities, including Columbia University, and it is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that all recipients are responsible stewards of federal funds.”
Khalil was one of the Columbia students who negotiated on behalf of the campus protesters who were pressing the school to divest from Israel last spring.
The letter would like Columbia to expel or suspend students who participated in last year’s demonstrations. Federal officials demand the school establish a new formal antisemitism definition and policy, reform undergraduate admissions, international recruiting and graduate admissions practices, and grant Columbia security officers full law enforcement.
In a letter obtained by NPR dated March 13, federal officials from the U.S. Education Department, Department of Health and Human Services and General Services Administration demanded Columbia place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under “academic receivership for a minimum of five years,” requiring them to create a full plan to do so by March 20. An unusual move in which control of a program is placed in the hands of university administration is explained in the letter that did not explain why this department was targeted.
A spokesman for Columbia University said in an email that the school is looking at the letter. He said that they were committed to addressing all forms of discrimination and hatred on the campus.
This conflict over federal funding at Columbia is the latest flashpoint in a year full of controversy and discord at the university. Here’s a rundown on the recent developments.
Much of the turmoil at Columbia began last spring after university leadership clashed with pro-Palestinian protests on campus, sparked by the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Columbia students, for their part, established encampments on school grounds and took over a university building as they called on university leaders to divest from companies with ties to Israel. Nemat is no longer the president after she faced criticism for her call in the police to break up the demonstrations.