Quotes
With today’s filing, we are making it crystal clear that no president can arrest, detain, or deport anyone for disagreeing with the government,
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement
This is not about free speech. This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with. No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card,
Rubio saidSecretary Rubio made this determination based on Mr. Khalil’s lawful activity protected by the First Amendment: his participation in protests and his statements regarding Palestine and Israel,
Khalil's attorneys argue in the complaintNeither Secretary Rubio nor any other government official has alleged that Mr. Khalil has committed any crime or, indeed, broken any law whatsoever,
they wroteI find it distasteful, un-Jewish and collaborationist to forge together lists of people who fail to meet a political litmus test,
Myers said
It is both possible and necessary to directly confront and address the crisis of antisemitism, on campus and across our communities, without abandoning the fundamental democratic values that have allowed Jews, and so many others, to thrive here,
said Amy Spitalnick, head of the liberal Jewish Council for Public AffairsWell, that has to be determined.”
When asked who he was an operative for, he respondedTheir attacks have incited a wave of hate, including calls for my deportation and death threats,
Khalil saidIrrespective of the content of Mr Khalil’s speech, we firmly believe that his arrest does nothing to make Jews safer,
the groups saidWe also hope that this action serves as a deterrent to others who might consider breaking the law on college campuses or anywhere.”
It addedObviously, any deportation action or revocation of a Green Card or visa must be undertaken in alignment with required due process protections,
the group saidExpect naturalized citizens to start being picked up within the month,
the group’s post on X readI haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that Ice or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support, and I urge you to intervene and provide the necessary protections to prevent further harm.”
He addedZionists don’t deserve to live.”
In another email, Khalil reportedly cited a threatening post by Betar, in which the group claimed he said ... KhalilI think ultimately, [the administration] is interested in something larger than defending Jewish students, it’s really interested in bringing the university to its knees as a way of removing a key liberal, progressive actor from the American political game,
he saidThe government’s unlawful policy of targeting noncitizens for arrest and removal based on protected speech is…viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment,
Khalil’s lawyers, led by Amy Belsher of the New York Civil Liberties Foundation, wrote in a Thursday night court filing
I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined."
They called him a "mediator and negotiator" and pointed to a spring 2024 interview with CNN in which he said