Judge sets timeline in pro-Palestinian Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil's case as ICE holds him in custody

The federal government is claiming the authority to deport people with deep ties to the U.S. and revoke their green cards for advocating positions that the government opposes,

said the ACLU's Ben Wizner in a statement

The First Amendment protects everyone in the U.S. The government’s actions are obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate,

Wizner added

If you actually end up doing that once you're in this country on such a visa, we will revoke it,

he warned

We can deny you that visa,

the U.S. top diplomat argued

This is about people who don't have the right to be in the United States to begin with,

the secretary of state claimed

The United States government has taken the position that it can arrest, detain and seek to deport a lawful permanent resident exclusively because of his peaceful, constitutionally protected activism ― in this case, activism in support of Palestinian human rights and an end to the genocide in Gaza,

said Baher Azmy, a member of Khalil’s counsel and the legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights

My husband was kidnapped from our home, and it’s shameful that the United States government continues to hold him because he stood for the rights and lives of his people,

Khalil’s wife said in a Wednesday statement read by attorney Shezza Abboushidallal

It simply cannot be the case that you can be disappeared at night off the streets of New York City simply because the current U.S. government, the current administration at the White House, dislikes what you have to say,

he continued

His disappearance has devastated our lives. Every day without him is filled with uncertainty – not just for me, but for our entire family and community. Our loved ones are struggling with the pain and fear of his sudden absence,

she continued

The government takes the position that because the secretary of state finds his dissent unacceptable or contrary to U.S. foreign policy, he can be deported,

he continued

Every day that Mahmoud spends in detention in Louisiana is a day too long. We and he fully intend to vindicate not just his First Amendment rights, but those of all Americans, frankly, and all lawful permanent residents and anybody who wants to speak out,

Ramzi Kassem, one of Khalil’s attorneys, told reporters as protesters could be heard loudly calling for the activist’s freedom

The infatuation with institutional neutrality,

he said