On Friday, a federal judge ruled that pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil would be released from detention after spending more than three months behind bars. Khalil was first detained by ICE agents earlier this year when he was walking into his apartment building.
Since Khalil’s arrest, his American-born wife has given birth to his son. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s administration has pushed heavily for Khalil’s deportation, even though Khalil has a green card, is here legally, and has not committed a crime.
Activists and human rights organizations around the country have applauded Khalil’s release. However, the long detention only further highlights just how broken America’s court system is.
An Attack on Human Rights
Since Khalil’s arrest, activists have claimed that the Columbia University graduate student’s human rights were being attacked. His further stay in detention — a whopping three months — only confirmed this accusation. After all, why did the courts reject Khalil’s release when his lawyers fought for it earlier? Especially when other students detained on similar reasons had already been released, while Khalil remained detained?
It’s important to remember that Khalil has never even been accused of committing a crime. Instead, the Trump administration simply wants to deport him because he is speaking on topics they don’t want him to speak on. Though conservatives like to claim they’re the party of free speech, their treatment of Mahmoud Khalil shows they only like free speech for some people.
Since his release, the White House has already slammed the federal judge in charge of his case. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has put out a statement telling the Trump administration to stop its “authoritarian practices as political weapons to suppress the right to protest.”
Undermining the Public Confidence in the U.S. Courts
Khalil’s arrest showed how the Trump administration doesn’t care about protecting people’s Constitutional or human rights. However, Khalil’s very long detention has fully revealed to many Americans just how broken our court system is.
The Department of Homeland Security has stated that Khalil’s release “does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts.” In this way, DHS is accurate, yet not in the way they’re claiming.
The federal judge who released Mahmoud Khalil isn’t the one who is undermining public confidence in courts around the country. It’s the White House and the executive branch that are doing that. Khalil should’ve been released as soon as possible after being detained, according to the law. Every other activist was. Instead, he had to wait three months before he returned home.
For many Americans, this long detention would harm many aspects of their lives. What person wouldn’t be affected by being detained for months on end, with no idea when they’ll be released? Perhaps that’s the point. The Trump administration is using the court system to their benefit, for the most part, to make Americans think twice about heading out to a protest.
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