As Townhall has been covering, pro-Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents over the weekend, and is set to be deported, though a judge for the Southern District of New York put a halt to that. Further, the support that Khalil as a terrorist sympathizer has received from those on the left.
Senate Judiciary Democrats received considerable attention over X for posting a picture of Khalil and the caption of, "Free Mahmoud Khalil." There's been 16,000 replies, including from The White House X account, reminding that President Donald Trump has made clear that this arrest of one terrorist sympathizer "is the first arrest of many to come." There's been plenty of angry quoted reposts as well. They've put out multiple other posts on the matter as well, doubling down on their support for Khalil and opposition to the Trump administration's actions.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is also the minority whip, put out a quoted repost of Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday night with regards to revoking green cards of pro-Hamas agitators. As Democrats are particularly prone to do, he brought it back to Russia. "Detaining a recent grad student for exercising his right to free speech is something we’d expect from Russia—NOT AMERICA," he posted in part.
When it comes to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who is himself Jewish, hasn't appeared to post about Khalil, but he also hasn't appeared to have stood up to those in the caucus either.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has also posted and reposted several times to her X account since Monday about Khalil.
This includes a warning about how the government "can disappear US citizens..." as well as a directive that "Anyone - left, right, or center - who has highlighted the importance of constitutional rights + free speech should be sounding the alarm now," even though this case is not about that.
Still another post claimed that the situation was about "Violating rule of law, actually" and involved "shredding the Constitution of the United States to go after political enemies." She even claimed that "Anyone celebrating this should be ashamed," without any hint or irony about how the people celebrating Khalil and his terrorist sympathizing causes might want to be "ashamed."
The congresswoman also brought Jewish identity into it by reposting Amy Spitalnick of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), who was quote reposting herself to double down on her points. "The Trump admin is exploiting real concerns about antisemitism to undercut democracy: from gutting education funding to deporting students to attacking diversity, equity, & inclusion," one post from Spitalnick claimed to go after Trump, as if Columbia and Barnard, the site of pro-Hamas activity that Khalil was involved in, and even led when it comes to the former, didn't have to do with "real concerns about antisemitism."
Spitalnick's more recent post defended Khalil even further, while still bringing Jews into it. "Any Jew who thinks this is going to start & stop with a few Palestinian activists is fooling themself. Our community is not an excuse to upend democracy & the rule of law," her post mentioned.
Not only did AOC repost Spitalnick, but keep in mind that in late January she dared to call out the Anti Defamation League and claimed that "People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now," because they dared to defend Elon Musk when he gestured to the crowd at a rally for Trump's inauguration.
Especially since she's a member of the anti-Israel Squad, AOC's support for pro-Hamas agitators comes as no surprise. But, she is a New York politician, and it's worth reminding that New York City has the most Jewish people in the world, outside of Israel. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, she was not the only New York Democrat who stood up for Khalil.
Schumer has remained silent, as has Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, though they've still found time to post about other matters since Khalil's arrest. Those New York Democrats not remaining silent include Attorney General Letitia James, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who is running in the crowded New York City mayoral field.
As Lander claimed from his personal account on Sunday, "ICE’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil is an unconstitutional and egregious violation of the First Amendment, and a frightening weaponization of immigration law."
He too made it about Jews. I disagree strongly with things that were said in the protests he reportedly led. But it will not make Jews — or any of us — safer for the federal government to deport people for saying things we may find hateful," he continued, as if Khalil was merely engaging in "saying things we may find hateful."
Lander then shared an oft-used poem by Martin Niemoller, potentially to fearmonger like AOC did with her posts above.
James, who has been particularly hellbent on prioritizing going after Trump, put out a post from her official account and even appears to be using her office to do more than just merely express concern for the Syrian-born activist.
"I am extremely concerned about the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, an advocate and legal permanent resident of Palestinian descent," she said to describe the pro-Hamas agitator. "My office is monitoring the situation, and we are in contact with his attorney."
Mamdani, as we've covered, especially when it comes to concerns from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who has endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo for mayor and may run for governor himself, has put out anti-Israel narratives before. In this instance, he reposted a Jewish group to speak up for Khalil.
"The arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil—a green card holder whose wife is eight months pregnant—is a blatant assault on the First Amendment and a sign of advancing authoritarianism under Trump. He must be released now," Mamdani added when reposting the leftist group known as Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JREJ). That Khalil has a wife who is eight months pregnant should be irrelevant, except for how he should have thought about that before participating in pro-Hamas activities at Columbia and Barnard.
The JREJ group, with original emphasis, even claimed that "This is what fascist governments do, and it will not stop here." Like other leftists are prone to do, they even needlessly brought Musk into the matter, by mentioning the "Trump/Musk administration."
On Monday night, Mamdani also reposted a link to Khalil's legal defense and supporting his family.
"It’s been 72 hours since federal agents abducted a legal permanent resident from our city and Andrew Cuomo still hasn’t said a word," another post put it on Tuesday morning.
The JCPA and JREJ aren't the only Jewish groups standing up for Khalil. The radically leftist and anti-Israel group known IfNotNow has spoken out at great length. They held a press conference on Monday, and also released a statement that same day framing the issue as being about a "DHS abduction" of Khalil.
The statement is full of anti-Israel narratives, such as how Khalil was arrested "for protesting the Israeli military’s genocidal assault on his people" and also uses the "disappeared" language that AOC did. Just like the JCPA and JREJ did, there's digs at Trump and Musk as well. The lengthy statement closes in this chilling fashion:
This is an all hands on deck moment. If we do not all strongly oppose this dystopian crackdown on freedom of expression, directed by a government with many neo-Nazi ties and members, any of Trump’s political opponents could be its next victims: advocates for reproductive justice, climate action, trans rights, immigrant rights, and other progressive causes.
We know that it is central to the Trump Administration’s goals for Project 2025 to destroy any opposition to their fascist, white supremacist worldview. Revoking visas or green cards of students for political speech and threatening universities with funding cuts unless they stop educating about racism are attempts at policing thought.
If Trump and his neo-Nazi allies get away with this, there is nothing protecting citizens, including those born here, from meeting the same fate. The Heritage Foundation’s “Project Esther” strategy explicitly outlines a plan to start crushing Trump’s political opponents by attacking the Palestinian rights movement, but it makes clear that they won’t stop there.
Deportations, surveillance, and repression do not make Jews safer. Blaming Jews for this puts Jews in danger. We will only find safety by joining together with all who are targeted by the Trump/Musk agenda to resist it. Now is the time to marshal our courage, stand strong, link arms, and don’t let go."
With Khalil's hearing to take place on Wednesday, and with the Trump administration, including the president himself and Rubio, this story and the issue overall of deporting foreign-born terrorist sympathizers isn't going away.