John,
Back in March, the Trump administration had plainclothes ICE agents arrest and detain Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil for his political activism. He has been in an ICE detention facility ever since, including during the birth of his first child.
This was the beginning of the administration’s authoritarian crackdown on freedom of speech and protest, targeting students who were immigrants, even if they had permanent U.S. residency like Mahmoud.
U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz originally ruled that keeping Mahmoud detained because of his political activism was likely unconstitutional and ordered him to be released last Friday.
But the administration rapidly responded and tried to justify their detention and deportation efforts by claiming Mahmoud committed fraud on his 2024 green card application. The judge ruled they could continue to legally detain him using this new justification, keeping Mahmoud stuck behind bars in a Louisiana facility thousands of miles away from his wife and newborn son.
Though their official reasoning changed, we can’t let the Trump administration get away with indefinitely detaining and possibly deporting someone over their political views. It’s one of many examples of the executive branch acting like a fascist dictatorship, and it’s not okay, John.
— Demand Justice PAC
