Mahmoud Khalil arrest: A step towards the end of free speech in the US?
Mahmoud Khalil arrest: A step towards the end of free speech in the US?
Redi Tlhabi discusses Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and the larger impact with his lawyer and a Columbia University student
Pro-Palestine activist and Columbia University graduate, Mahmoud Khalil, was arrested this week by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for helping lead protests at the university against the genocide in Gaza. Khalil, a legal permanent US resident, is being held at a detention facility in Louisiana and faces deportation. The arrest is part of Trump’s directives around anti-Semitism on college campuses, he also claimed, “This the first [arrest] of many to come.”
The move has sent shockwaves throughout the United States with critics raising the alarm on the erosion of constitutional rights. So how far will Trump’s crackdown on free speech go?
This week on UpFront, Redi Tlhabi speaks with Mahmoud Khalil’s legal counsel Ramzi Kassem and journalism student at Columbia University Tamara Turki.