On March 8, the Trump administration ordered the arrest and deportation of Palestinian student and activist Mahmoud Khalil as retribution for helping lead the anti-war student encampment at Columbia University last year in response to the genocidal war on Gaza. Khalil—a legal permanent resident who has now had his Green Card revoked—was taken from his home by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to a detention center in Louisiana, where neither his pregnant wife nor his lawyer have access to him.
“This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump said in a Truth Social post about the arrest. “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… We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country—never to return again.”
The U.S. government is attempting to disappear a political activist for his views and for exercising his rights to free speech and demonstration. This is a serious and dangerous escalation of the already brutal repression against those who have dared to speak out against the Israeli state’s occupation and war, which is bankrolled by U.S. imperialism. This must be fought everywhere—in the streets, in our workplaces, and in our schools. Khalil will not be the last activist punished for his political views, and if left unchallenged the Trump administration will go even further.
This is also an attack on the international movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people and the struggle to free Mahmoud Khalil should be taken up around the world, linked to the broader movement against war and occupation.
Khalil’s arrest and disappearance sparked outrage, with thousands hitting the streets in NYC on March 10 to demand his immediate release. Today, protests are taking place on some campuses as part of a national day of action called by Students for Justice in Palestine. And while a New York judge has temporarily halted Khalil’s deportation, it has been abundantly clear since Trump’s inauguration that the court system has no real control over the whims of this authoritarian administration.
When Trump began carrying out his plans for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, we warned that it was an attack on all immigrants, regardless of documentation status, and an attack on the entire working class. The Trump administration has now made clear that they will not hesitate to strip legal residents of their documentation—they are not interested in following the “rules” of bourgeois democracy.
The only way to stop an authoritarian regime is with mass action that shuts down business as usual. Every basic democratic right we have in this country was won through struggle. Our rights will only be protected as long as we protect them ourselves.
The highly-paid officials who run Columbia University, fearing the loss of government funding, are cooperating with the Trump administration and allowing one of their students—a legal resident—to be illegally detained and deported for political activism. Democratic House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries released a pathetic statement promising to “monitor the situation,” showing once again the abject uselessness of the Democratic Party. The Biden administration paved the way for Trump’s escalating attacks when they oversaw the crushing of the Gaza solidarity encampments on campuses last spring where riot police carried out mass arrests and student activists were suspended and expelled.
To build the struggle to free Khalil, Columbia students and faculty organized in the UAW should halt business as usual at the university and call for a mass demonstration on campus to shut it down until he is released. The UAW, which supported calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, should come out publicly against this attack and back that up with action. Unfortunately, UAW president Shawn Fain, has signaled a shameful willingness to work with Trump 2.0 under the guise of “protecting American workers.” This is a dead-end strategy—Fain should reverse his position immediately and speak out against this attack, using his platform to call for mass strikes and protests against the entire Trump regime.
But we can’t hold our breath and wait for the existing leaders of the labor movement to put up the kind of fight that is necessary—it will be up to rank-and-file members of unions, students, and all workers and community members across the country to make it impossible for Trump to carry out his agenda. We need to organize strikes, occupations, and protests in solidarity with Khalil in every city, connected to the anti-war movement, the movement for trans rights, and the movement against attacks on federal workers. Reach out to Socialist Alternative if you want to organize a protest in your city.