MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin Warns Mahmoud Khalil’s Detention May Be How ‘Fascism and Totalitarianism are Normalized’ in America | Video

The unlawful detention and arrest of Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil could be “the case through which fascism and totalitarianism are normalized” across college campuses and the United States, “under the guise of preserving law and order” and “combating hate,” said MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin Friday night.

Khalil was arrested by plainclothes policemen on March 8 after he and his wife Noor Abdalla, a US citizen, returned home from an Iftar dinner (a fast-breaking evening meal during Ramadan). Abdalla is 8 months pregnant with the pair’s first child.

Khalil, who has not been charged with a crime and who is set to graduate from Columbia this spring, is currently in a detention center in Louisiana. His green card was revoked in response to his political actions on campus, where he had joined protests against the Israel-Hamas war. The right to protest is protected under the Bill of Rights; the Bill of Rights applies to everyone in the United States, including green card holders, undocumented people, and visa holders.

A green card holder such as Khalil can have their status revoked if they have violated the terms under which it was granted. The Trump administration has presented no evidence to support any allegation that Khalil violated those terms.

“Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian refugee raised in war-torn Syria who somehow made his way legally to an elite university here in the United States, where he was set to graduate with a master’s degree,” said Mohyeldin. “He became a public spokesperson and leader on campus, challenging the US government’s support for Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.”

To justify Khalil’s arrest, Mohyeldin continued, “the Trump administration cited an obscure foreign policy clause that allows the Secretary of State to deport foreign nationals whom it deems basically threatened national security.” A federal judge temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation on Monday.

“The Trump administration has selectively targeted Mr. Khalil, a student, husband, and father-to-be who has not been accused of a single crime, to send a message of just how far they will go to crack down on dissent,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union in a statement.

“But we at the NYCLU and ACLU won’t stand for it — under the Constitution, the Trump administration has no basis to continue this cruel weaponization of Mr. Khalil’s life. The Court must release Mr. Khalil immediately and let him go home to his family in New York, where he belongs. Ideas are not illegal, and dissent is not grounds for deportation.”

Though the Trump administration has argued the case is not about free speech rights in the United States, it has the potential for far-reaching consequences for everyone in the country, Mohyeldin also said.

“First of all, and it’s important to be very clear about this, the U.S. government has not presented any evidence and there has been no evidence of this so far,” he explained, “and the conflation of those supporting Palestinian rights with being supportive of terrorism is an ugly rhetorical attack.”

“Secondly, if someone were to vocally support Hamas or any other organizations deemed terrorist by the United States, that is protected by the First Amendment too, even if we don’t like it.”

“This name, Mahmoud Khalil, and the legal fight that it will certainly birth going forward, will define America for generations to come,” Mohyeldin later added. “It could be the legal case that forces our people, our institutions, and our judiciary to actually defend our country, our free speech, and our civil liberties from fascistic authoritarian rule, or it could be the case through which fascism and totalitarianism are normalized under the guise of preserving law and order on college campuses.”

Watch the entire segment from MSNBC in the video above.

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