| His arrest is a “five-alarm fire” for free speech, experts say, and possibly part of a broader campaign within the Trump administration to stamp out speech the government doesn’t agree with. That’s because Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil was arrested over the weekend potentially for no other reason than that he supported Palestinian causes. Here’s what’s happening and why his case could be a big deal for free speech in America under President Donald Trump. Khalil is a pro-Palestinian activist at Columbia University He was a spokesman for last year’s controversial pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, which made him a prominent figure in the news. He is a green-card holder, which means he is a legal permanent U.S. resident, and he is married to an American citizen. Khalil was arrested Saturday by the Trump administration, when immigration officials took him from his apartment in front of his wife, who is eight months pregnant. The officials said his arrest was “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.” He has been detained since. Officials plan to deport him, but a federal judge has put that on pause while Khalil’s case is debated in court. Why Khalil’s arrest might be unconstitutional Officials have yet to say what law he may have broken. Unless there’s new information demonstrating a cause for Khalil’s arrest, experts say this looks like he was arrested for participating in a protest that the Trump administration doesn’t like — and that would be a violation of the First Amendment, which protects free speech, no matter how ugly. “Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest is part of an across-the-board campaign to suppress dissent across the administration,” said Rachel Goodman, a First Amendment expert with the pro-democracy group Protect Democracy. “It’s a five-alarm fire for free speech, and this is part of the ongoing campaign to demonize immigrants.” “It sure looks like punishment based on his speech,” said Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration analyst with the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. “If he is just being targeted for his words and noncriminal actions, it is a gross violation of his rights. If the government has evidence of Khalil’s actual material support for a foreign terrorist organization, they should share that ASAP.” Goodman and Nowrasteh both reiterated that new information could change the perception of this entirely. But nearly a week into Khalil’s arrest, Trump administration officials have struggled to say what he did wrong other than express pro-Palestinian views. “I think you can see it on TV, right?” Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told NPR. “We’ve invited and allowed the student to come into the country, and he’s put himself in the middle of the process of basically pro-Palestinian activity. And at this point, like I said, the secretary of state can review his visa process at any point and revoke it.” Conservative media personality Ann Coulter said on social media of Khalil: “There’s almost no one I don’t want to deport, but, unless they’ve committed a crime, isn’t this a violation of the first amendment?” | 
