A civil rights debate has ensued following the Saturday arrest by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of Mahmoud Khalil - a recent Columbia University graduate who has been described as a 'ringleader' in last year's campus chaos in which activists took over Hamilton Hall, which led to an NYPD raid and mass arrests (which Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg dismissed).

Prior to coming to Columbia, Khalil "was a political affairs officer with UNRWA," which the Trump administration just pulled the plug on, and which has been accused of 'grooming terrorists.'

According to Zeteo.com, around 8:30 PM on Saturday, Khalil and his pregnant wife had just unlocked the door to their residence when two plainclothes DHS agents 'pushed inside behind them,' did not identify themselves at first, and then detained Khalil. They reportedly told his wife that if she did not leave her husband and stay in their apartment, they would arrest her too.

The agents claimed that the State Department had revoked Khalil’s student visa, with one agent presenting what he claimed was a warrant on his cell phone. But Khalil, according to advocates, has a green card. Khalil’s wife went to their apartment to get the green card.

“He has a green card,” an agent apparently said on the phone, confused by the matter. But then after a moment, the agent claimed that the State Department had “revoked that too.”

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed in a statement that ICE had detained Khalil "in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism," claiming that Khalil had "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization."

President Trump, meanwhile, said on Truth Social: "Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University," adding "This is the first arrest of many to come. 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."

"Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio chimed in on X, writing "We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported."

According to law professor Jonathan Turley, "In the Khalil case, he was reportedly under investigation for the takeover of the Columbia building while also serving as one of the negotiators. The takeover is not protected free speech. It is unlawful conduct that can and should be punished."

The arrest came one day after the Trump administration cut $400 million in grants to Columbia University over 'antisemitism inaction,'  after members of the US Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism notified Columbia University's Acting President of a comprehensive review of the university's federal contracts and grants amid ongoing investigations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. 

The review follows reports of "chaos" and "anti-Semitic harassment" on campus since Hamas' attack on Israel in October 2023.

As Zeteo notes further; 

In February – after Columbia president Katrina Armstrong met with Israel’s education minister, where they discussed taking firmer action on campus speech – Columbia’s Barnard College expelled three students for political activism for the first time since the 1968 protests. This week – as the school welcomed former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who once said, “I’ve killed many Arabs in my life, and there’s no problem with that,” to campus – NYPD arrested nine students involved in a campus sit-in.

Needless to say, this arrest has sparked a brewing debate over free speech (which the left suddenly embraces after years of silencing conservatives) vs. anti-American/Israel activities which included a violent riot.

Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) slammed the arrest on X, calling it "un-American" and "straight out of the fascist playbook," while calling for Khalil's release.

Do anti-Israel protesters, even 'pro-Hamas' individuals, pose a danger to Americans or US national security?

How should authorities respond to 'ringleaders' of protests that turn into chaos on college campuses?

And are these protests being funded by terrorist-affiliated groups, or George Soros?

Discuss below...