David Poms

I abhor many of the opinions and policies that Mahmoud Khalil holds and supports, and have made my criticism of the antisemitic actions at Columbia loudly known. Mr. Khalil is also legal permanent resident here, and his wife, who is 8-months pregnant, is an American citizen. While he may well be in violation of various campus rules regarding how the protests were conducted last year, that is a matter for the university to pursue, and I have encouraged them to be much more robust in how they combat antisemitism and maintain a harassment-free campus that protects the safety and security of Jewish and other students. The Trump administration’s DHS must articulate any criminal charges or facts that would justify his detention or the initiation of deportation proceedings against him. If the administration cannot prove he has violated any criminal law to justify taking this severe action and is doing it for the opinions he has expressed, then that is wrong, they are violating the First Amendment protections we all enjoy and should drop their wrongheaded action.