STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A federal judge in New York ordered the government not to deport a college protest leader who was arrested by immigration officers over the weekend.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Mahmoud Khalil is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, a recent graduate of Columbia University. He was sent to a detention center in Louisiana to await deportation after his arrest at his university housing on Saturday.
INSKEEP: NPR's Ryland Barton has been following the story and joins us now. Good morning.
RYLAND BARTON, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: I'm just getting my brain around the idea that he was taken out of New York and taken all the way to Louisiana. So what else is going on here?
BARTON: Right. So Khalil's attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court in New York. They're challenging his arrest, and we now know there will be a hearing on that on Wednesday. As you said, he's still in detention in Louisiana. His lawyers are trying to get him back to New York. They say that his transfer down there undermines his ability to access legal counsel and his family.
President Trump wrote on social media that Khalil's arrest was the first arrest of many to come. He said there are students at Columbia and other universities engaged in, quote, "pro-terrorist, antisemitic, anti-American activity." Khalil's attorneys say the Trump administration is using him as an example to stifle lawful dissent, which violates the First Amendment. Khalil's wife, who is pregnant, also issued a statement, asking for help to bring him back home. She described him as a loving husband and the future father of their baby and someone who's always willing to stand up for the oppressed.
INSKEEP: Since you brought up the First Amendment, what does the law say about how that applies specifically to a green card holder? And how does all that match up with the facts of this case?
BARTON: So green card holders have many of the same protections that U.S. citizens have, but they can be deported for certain reasons - committing crimes, not updating immigration officials on their whereabouts, for example. The administration says that since Khalil was one of the student leaders active in those protests opposing Israel's war with Hamas and Gaza, he violated the administration's ban on antisemitism and supported a group considered to be a terrorist organization by the U.S. And that's grounds for deportation to them.
Trump officials have made several statements about this over the week. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media that the administration would revoke the visas or green cards of Hamas supporters so that they can be deported.
INSKEEP: How does this fit with the larger policies of the administration? The U.S. Education Department, I know, is telling dozens of universities they're under investigation for antisemitism, as the administration sees it.
BARTON: Right. The department's new secretary, Linda McMahon, told 60 colleges and universities they could lose funding, depending on the outcome of investigations they've launched into antisemitism on their campuses. This letter they sent out to them also warned that they could lose federal funding if they don't do more to combat antisemitism. This list includes a wide range of Ivy League schools like Yale, state schools like Arizona State, small liberal arts colleges like Middlebury College in Vermont. And it comes after the administration canceled almost $400 million in federal funding for Columbia University, accusing it of allowing persistent harassment of Jewish students.
INSKEEP: NPR's Ryland Barton, thanks so much.
BARTON: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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