Maher says Trump administration’s detaining of Mahmoud Khalil hurts free speech

“Real Time” host Bill Maher had some choice words for the Trump administration following the arrest of anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil. 

Khalil, a ringleader in the Columbia University protests who is a Syrian national, was detained by ICE this week as the State Department announced it is revoking his green card and student visa for spearheading activities the Department of Homeland Security says are “aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” 

During Friday’s panel discussion, Maher predicted that “future historians” will look back and assume both political parties “forgot about free speech.”

BILL MAHER RIPS LEFT’S ‘EXCLUSIONARY ATTITUDE’ AS ‘HAMILTON’ CANCELS SHOWS AT TRUMP-BACKED KENNEDY CENTER

“We talked about JD Vance’s speech in Europe here a couple of weeks ago. We got on them about what they there are big issues there and in this country… but it’s not like this administration really has a leg to stand on. They don’t care about it either,” Maher told the panel.

“I don’t agree with his point of view, but you know what? If you’re an honest person, you have to defend him if you believe in free speech, because that’s what free speech means,” Maher said of Khalil. “I say it all the time when it’s on the other foot, and I can’t change because it’s now this guy. It’s defending the dirt bags you hate.” 

“I don’t think they have anything on this guy, other than he’s saying things that I can’t believe kids believe now. I did not see this coming, this bizarre alliance of jihadism and wokeism. You know, ‘[Intifada] is the only solution!’ Really? [Intifada] is the only solution globally? That’s where this guy is. I think it’s horrible. He hates this country. He hates Western civilization. And I defend to his death the right to say it,” he added. 

BILL MAHER KNOCKS REP. JASMINE CROCKETT, QUESTIONS HER STATUS AS ‘BIG LEADER’ OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY

MAHER PRAISES NEWSOM’S ‘TACK TO THE CENTER’ AS DEM GOV SPEAKS OUT AGAINST TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued Khalil’s arrest and pending deportation is “not about free speech.”

“When you come to the United States as a visitor, which is what a visa is – which is how this individual entered this country, on a visitor’s visa – as a visitor, we can deny you that visa,” Rubio said. “When you tell us when you apply, ‘Hi, I’m trying to get into the United States on a student visa. I am a big supporter of Hamas, a murderous, barbaric group that kidnaps children, that rapes teenage girls, that takes hostages, that allows them to die in captivity, that returns more bodies than live hostages,’ if you tell us that you are in favor of a group like this and if you tell us when you apply for your visa, ‘and by the way, I intend to come to your country as a student and rile up all kinds of anti-Jewish student, antisemitic activities, I intend to shut down your universities,’ if you told us all these things when you applied for your visa, we would deny your visa. I’d hope we would.”

Rubio continued, “If you actually end up doing that once you’re in this country on such a visa, we will revoke it, and if you end up having a green card, not citizenship, but a green card as a result of that visa while you’re here doing those activities, we’re going to kick you out. It’s as simple as that. This is not about free speech. This is about people who do not have a right to be in the United States to begin with. No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card, by the way.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST MEDIA AND CULTURE NEWS