Border czar Tom Homan has warned that Columbia University anti-Israel protest ringleader Mahmoud Khalil will be the first “of many” legal green card holders to be nabbed and targeted for deportation if they abuse their rights.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian who received his graduate degree from the Ivy League school in December, is fighting deportation after he was detained over the weekend by federal immigration agents in the Big Apple.
The 30-year-old — who was a driving force behind many of the anti-Israel protests, building takeovers and encampments that have plagued Columbia for more than a year — had not been charged with any crimes tied to his activism prior to his arrest.
Still, Homan insisted Monday the feds “absolutely can” boot someone from the US — even if they are here legally — and vowed Khalil wouldn’t be the last to be locked up and potentially thrown out.
“That’s just one out of many,” Homan told Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” on Monday of Khalil’s detainment.
“I mean, did he violate the terms of his visa? Did he violate the terms of his residency here, you know, committing crimes, attacking Israeli students, locking down buildings, destroying property?” Homan added.
“Absolutely, any resident alien who commits a crime is eligible for deportation.”
It comes after a federal judge in New York City on Monday ordered Khalil — who is holed up in an immigration jail in Louisiana — not be deported while the court weighed a legal challenge brought by his lawyers, alleging that ICE detained him illegally.
A hearing has been set for Wednesday.
In the court filing, Khalil’s attorneys said the grad had been told by the ICE agents who grabbed him that the State Department had revoked his green card and that he would be brought in front of an immigration judge.
Despite the legal hurdle, Homan was adamant Khalil wouldn’t be the last to be targeted amid President Trump’s promised crackdown on anti-Israel demonstrators with green cards.
“We’re going to send a strong message to say, anybody here on a foreign visa, that you’re given a great right to come to the greatest country on Earth and study in our colleges,” Homan said.
“But when you come here to study, you got to obey the laws of this country. You got to obey the requirements of that visa to be lawful while you’re here.”
“So, it’s a great privilege to study in this country, but, when we give you that right to study in this country, don’t violate our laws,” he added.
A White House source had revealed Monday that Khalil was being investigated as a potential national security threat after Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “presented with intelligence.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what type of intelligence had allegedly been obtained, but the source said Homeland Security has been “gathering intel” on those “actively engaging in supporting Hamas.”
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