A leftist group representing Arab American interests has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in an attempt to stop the deportation of students involved in anti-Israel protests.
The American and Arab Anti-Discrimination Commission (ADC) filed a lawsuit in US District Court on Saturday for the Upstate District of New York, seeking to block the Trump administration’s efforts to repatriate foreign students in 2024 with anti-Israel protests that swept many university campuses. Court documents. The White House argues that previously detained and deported students are involved in anti-Semitic activities consistent with Hamas terrorist groups, while immigration experts say that actions are not related to free speech. (Related: “Deliberately Misleading”: Trump officials accusing Biden administrators of seemingly expanding the statistical statistics of ice arrests)
The lawsuit seeks a national injunction, particularly two another An executive order signed by President Donald Trump allowed the approval of the removal of foreign students involved in the protest. The ADC alleges an order that violates “unconstitutional” freedom of speech and was sued on behalf of three Cornell University plaintiffs (two students and one professor).
“The First Amendment guarantees, without exception, freedom of speech and freedom of expression to everyone in the United States,” the ADC’s National Executive Director General said. press release. “By targeting and punishing students who spoke in support of Palestine, or by targeting and punishing students who otherwise engage in legal protests, the administration’s extreme orders silence the entire community and threaten to illegally elect international students who make significant contributions to academic, social and economic institutions.”
Top Shot – Pro-Palestine activists will hold a demonstration on March 14, 2025 in front of Columbia University in support of Mahmoud Khalil in New York.
The ADC claims itself as an Arab-American civil rights group, an outspoken opponent of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policy and a longtime Israeli critic. According to Review of organizational press releases. Oct. 7, 2023 Massacre Day – Hamas Terrorists Killed Over 1,000 People and Take Hundreds of Civilians Hostages – ADC I mentioned the attack He condemned the actions of terrorist groups against Israel as an act of “Palestinian resistance.”
The group’s latest lawsuit comes days after Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian activist who was behind the campus protests at Columbia University.
Throughout 2024, anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University illegally occupying campus property, making the school extremely aggressive It was ultimately forced To cancel in-person classes, cancel the university-wide opening ceremony and call the police to make an arrest. Khalil – Graduate student living in the US on a non-immigrant student visa at the time, positioning himself early as the leader of the Colombian protests, talking to and serving media outlets As an intermediary Between the school and campus activists’ demands.
Trump has already pledged to crack down on protesters who violate laws and has signed two separate enforcement orders aimed at detaining and dismissing foreign students involved in extremist activities. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was acting on those orders when it arrested Khalil and claimed it had participated in activities alongside Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation.
Ice Agent also arrested Rekaa Cordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, who remained in the US after her student visa expired due to alleged involvement in a campus protest at Columbia University. Indian citizen Ranjani Srinivasan is also said to be involved in the protests in Colombia, but his student visa was revoked by the State Department and left the US via the Trump administration’s self-report app.
Activists sympathetic to Halil have heavily condemned his arrest, have so far taken Trump Tower and held rallies in New York City.
However, both the State Department and immigration experts point out that the action has nothing to do with “free speech,” and the administration has the authority to support foreign nationals who could pose a threat to foreign policy.
“This is definitely not a matter of freedom of speech,” Matt O’Brien, research director at the Institute for Immigration Reform Law, previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. O’Brien, a former immigration judge, said, “I pointed to a section of the code of foreigners who believe that their presence or activity in the United States has reasonable grounds to believe there is a potentially serious adverse foreign policy impact on the United States.
Talk to a reporter Early this monthSecretary of State Marco Rubio argued that the incident had nothing to do with freedom of speech, but said that none of the foreigners who have no rights to stay in the US have a student visa rights and no rights to a green card.
“So, when you apply for a student visa or visa to enter the US, we have the right to deny you for some reason, but I think we are a Hamas advocate and are complicit in the complexity of entering our university and being upside down, clearly confusing that it’s a crime of destruction and closing the institution of learning.
“If you told us that was what you were going to do when you came to America, we would never have let you in,” he continued.
DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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