The Right Might Be Making A Costly Error By Targeting Left-Wing Activist

The right is making a costly political error in targeting a single pro-Palestine activist for deportation and cheering on his arrest even though he has not been charged with any crime.

ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and activist who has long been involved in pro-Palestine rallies and demonstrations, at a Manhattan apartment on Saturday night. According to court records, Khalil and his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen, presented papers showing his legal permanent residency to an agent. The agent “looked confused when he saw the documents” and proceeded to speak with someone on the phone, the records said. However, the ICE agents “arrested [Khalil] anyway, saying that his green card had also been revoked, but providing no basis for the revocation,” Khalil’s lawyer said. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)

Following the arrest, President Donald Trump said Monday it was the first “of many to come” and accused Khalil of “being pro-terrorist.”

“This is the first arrest of many to come. 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,” the president said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also posted on social media, saying the U.S. government “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported https://t.co/oKba2Mmi3C

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 9, 2025

According to a CNN report, the Trump administration is basing its actions on a provision of immigration that gives the executive branch broad authority in deporting aliens who are deemed to have “potentially serious adverse” consequences on U.S. foreign policy.

“An alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable,” the provision states.

In other words, Rubio has “reasonable ground” to think that the presence of one pro-Palestine activist, who has not been charged or convicted with any crimes, is enough to have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” It’s almost too absurd to believe. Even if they attempted to deport 1,000 pro-Palestine activists because their actions in the Columbia protests were deemed to be “pro-terrorist” by “associating with Hamas”, what difference would that make in quashing pro-Palestine/anti-Israel sentiment? What difference does it actually make to American foreign policy? How does one man’s activism have an “adverse consequence” for the country?

But forget whether or not the effort to deport Khalil is even legal, or whether his actions at Columbia are protected free speech. Maybe they are; maybe they aren’t. So far, has he been charged with a crime for making violent threats to Jewish students? No. Has he been charged with a crime for destroying or vandalizing private property? No. That could change, though.

Regardless, politically, it’s a stupid fight to pick. If the Trump administration and other pro-Israel conservatives are worried about the shifting opinions of younger generations in their view toward the Jewish state, the last thing they would want to do is kick off a high-profile First Amendment battle with flimsy, if any, evidence of wrongdoing, and one that is based on an immigration law that gives the secretary of state the power to pick and choose who is deemed hostile to the United States’s foreign policy. It’s a terrible look that will only galvanize the pro-Palestine movement, an impossible whack-a-mole game doomed to backfire. For every activist or agitator they attempt to deport, a dozen more people, maybe those who were apolitical before, will join their movement.

Even if the administration has a strong case according to the letter of the law, the political downside is incalculable. If you don’t want activists to voice anti-American sentiments and don’t want to lose political independents who may view Khalil’s actions more sympathetically, maybe don’t do something that is spiritually un-American, such as deporting someone who doesn’t share your views and who hasn’t committed any crime.

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