Former Columbia student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil had a hearing two weeks ago before U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman to determine whether he was wrongly arrested and slated for deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for his Palestinian-activist activities on the Columbia University campus. In early March, Khalil was arrested in New York and the Trump administration is trying to deport him, even though Khalil has been a longtime green card holder.
While awaiting Furman’s decision, Khalil is cooling his jets at an immigration detention center in Louisiana, receiving international attention and advocacy from those who feel he was wrongly arrested and not receiving due process. His supporters feel he should have the same rights as an American citizen, even though he is not one.
Alabama is now in the spotlight for similar reasons. On Tuesday, Alireza Doroudi, a University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) student getting his doctorate in mechanical engineering, was arrested by ICE HSI.
ICE HSI made the arrest, “in accordance with the State Department’s revocation of Doroudi’s student visa,” 1819 News reported. The article quoted a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson who said, “This individual posed significant national security concerns.” (Emphasis mine.)
DHS is understandably staying mum about exactly how much of a “national security concern” Doroudi was, but with the mandate of the Trump administration to go after the most dangerous and most violent first, it gives one pause and lots of room for speculation. Tuscaloosa News drew from The Crimson White (UAB’s campus paper) report that Doroudi was issued “an F-1 Student Visa” by the U.S. Embassy in Oman in January 2023. It also reported that Doroudi “had his visa revoked six months after arrival.”
This also gives one pause. The Crimson White article further informed that Doroudi contacted ISSS (International Student and Scholar Services), and they “replied with confidence, stating that his case was not unusual or problematic and that he could remain in the U.S. legally as long as he retained his student status.” Doroudi’s remained under the radar: until now.
Khalil’s case appears to be sucking up all the news oxygen, so the reasons why Doroudi was flagged and his F-1 visa revoked remain a mystery. But a few days ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to The Hill about the student visas the State Department revoked, confirming that it was a very high number:
‘Maybe more, it might be more than 300 at this point,’ Rubio said at a press conference in Guyana when asked to confirm Axios reporting on the topic.
‘We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,’ he added, saying he hopes it’s even more than the 300 estimate.
Rubio comes from a family of legal immigrants to the United States, so his statement sounds tinged with a bit of personal bias. And you know what? I have no problem with that. My legal immigrant friends who did it the right way, and also unabashedly love and support America find all this odd, and even angering. The Khalils and Doroudis are just as much a puzzlement to them as they are to native-born citizens.
I earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, then taught as an adjunct professor for a short time. Over this time in academia, the immigrant students and faculty I encountered were genuinely curious about America’s unique norms and quirks and had questions about the whys of some of our laws. But they expressed nothing but gratitude to be here, and were thankful for the opportunity to live, work and interact in a country that did things differently than their home ones. They were intent on doing everything they could to not only fit in but honor their host country for the privilege they were afforded.
So, we have no idea what is up with the keffiyeh-wearing masses hijacking university property, fomenting ethnic hate, and seeking to malign and destroy America, while feeding off its benefits and blessings. This boggles my mind, as well as how prior administrations allowed this type of behavior to go on for far too long.
In the case of Khalil, he has a wife and a newborn. Whatever the outcome of the judge’s ruling, was it really worth it for him to put their lives and comfort in jeopardy?
Rubio gave an even more detailed argument concerning this after the revocation of the F-1 visa of former Tufts University student and Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk, who also participated in the Palestine-protest nonsense, saying:
And once your visa is revoked, you’re no longer legally in the United States. Like every country, we have the right to remove you. It’s that simple.
It’s crazy—stupid, even—for any country to let people in who say, ‘I’m going to your universities to riot, take over libraries, and harass people.’ I don’t care what movement you’re with. Why would any country allow that?
Indeed, why did our country allow this to go on for so long, and now that something is being done about it, why have Khalil, Ozturk, and even Doroudi gained more attention (and in some cases compassion) than the brutal rapes and murders at the hands of criminal illegals of 22-year old Laken Riley, 12-year old Jocelyn Nungaray, or the vehicular murder of 7-year-old Ivory Smith by an illegal drunk driver?
We are living in the upside-down, and one wonders what it will take to get us right-side up again. Common sense is all too uncommon.
Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, As the Girl Turns, is an investigative journalist, author, opinion analyst, and contributor to 1819 News, Redstate, and other publications. Jennifer writes on Politics and Pop Culture, with occasional detours into Reinvention, Yoga, and Food. You can read more about Jennifer's world at her As the Girl Turns website. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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