If there’s one person who has become synonymous with the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech, it’s Mahmoud Khalil.
The Columbia University graduate and green card holder was detained by ICE for more than 100 days earlier this year after being targeted for his role as a lead negotiator for pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the school.
Now, Khalil remains at the center of a moral and legal battle over whether the federal government can weaponize immigration enforcement to silence dissent after an immigration judge ruled he should be deported to Syria or Algeria.
In a riveting, moving, and wide-ranging interview, Mehdi asks Khalil about his recent deportation order and whether the Trump administration will ever stop coming after him, and the two also discuss:
Last month’s scathing court ruling by a Reagan-appointed federal judge finding the Trump administration’s efforts to detain and deport pro-Palestinian academics violated the Constitution and was designed to “chill freedom of speech.”
Khalil’s $20 million lawsuit against the Trump administration (“It’s just a first step.”)
His opposition to Zionism as a Palestinian (“This Jewish self-determination is coming at the cost of my self-determination as a Palestinian.”)
Post-secondary institutions like Columbia University rolling over to the Trump administration (“It’s literally a ransom.”)
His response to Trump’s so-called Gaza “peace plan.”
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