Is Free Speech Under Attack in this Country?
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zitothebrave
Connoisseur of Minors
If the federal government said you will not get federal money if you teach religion would you be OK with that? Or if you invite anyone conservative to speak on campus we'll revoke your funds is that OK?
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Excerpt from David French's column:
Columbia University is now the epicenter of the American culture war. The Trump administration is targeting a former Columbia student — and the university itself — as a test case for its new authoritarian regime.
The story of Columbia isn’t simply about Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student in international affairs there who was one of the leaders of the pro-Palestinian protests that burst into view almost immediately after the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. But when federal immigration officials showed up at his apartment building last weekend and whisked him away to a facility in Louisiana to begin deportation proceedings, they brought the malice and incompetence of the Trump administration into stark relief.
The incompetence was obvious from the start. At the time of Khalil’s arrest, federal officers seem to have believed that he was in the United States on a student visa. But that was incorrect. He’s a green-card holder, a lawful permanent resident of the United States.
The malice was plain as well. In spite of his permanent residency, which agents on the scene appear to have learned about soon enough, the government did not permit Khalil to have a privileged conversation with his lawyer until it was ordered to do so by a federal judge. Khalil was taken from his family when his wife, who is an American citizen, was eight months pregnant.
What was the reason for his arrest, potential deportation and isolation from his own attorneys? According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Notice to Appear that was provided to Khalil, “The secretary of state has determined that your presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
While that statement sounds damning, the reality is that Khalil was detained because of his protest activity and not because he’d provided illegal support for terrorists. As an administration official told The Free Press, “The allegation here is not that he was breaking the law.”
In an interview with NPR, Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, made it clear that the administration was targeting Khalil’s expression. “We’ve invited and allowed the student to come into the country,” Edgar said, “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.”
But there is no visa to review. Khalil is a permanent resident now. Make no mistake, the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil are a direct attack on free speech.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/...e_code=1.4U4.wiEb.lvY7caQLHDx1&smid=url-share
The column is quite long and has an interesting discussion of Columbia's problems in finding the right balance between protecting staff and students from harassment while protecting freedom of expression.
Columbia University is now the epicenter of the American culture war. The Trump administration is targeting a former Columbia student — and the university itself — as a test case for its new authoritarian regime.
The story of Columbia isn’t simply about Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student in international affairs there who was one of the leaders of the pro-Palestinian protests that burst into view almost immediately after the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. But when federal immigration officials showed up at his apartment building last weekend and whisked him away to a facility in Louisiana to begin deportation proceedings, they brought the malice and incompetence of the Trump administration into stark relief.
The incompetence was obvious from the start. At the time of Khalil’s arrest, federal officers seem to have believed that he was in the United States on a student visa. But that was incorrect. He’s a green-card holder, a lawful permanent resident of the United States.
The malice was plain as well. In spite of his permanent residency, which agents on the scene appear to have learned about soon enough, the government did not permit Khalil to have a privileged conversation with his lawyer until it was ordered to do so by a federal judge. Khalil was taken from his family when his wife, who is an American citizen, was eight months pregnant.
What was the reason for his arrest, potential deportation and isolation from his own attorneys? According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Notice to Appear that was provided to Khalil, “The secretary of state has determined that your presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
While that statement sounds damning, the reality is that Khalil was detained because of his protest activity and not because he’d provided illegal support for terrorists. As an administration official told The Free Press, “The allegation here is not that he was breaking the law.”
In an interview with NPR, Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, made it clear that the administration was targeting Khalil’s expression. “We’ve invited and allowed the student to come into the country,” Edgar said, “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.”
But there is no visa to review. Khalil is a permanent resident now. Make no mistake, the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil are a direct attack on free speech.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/...e_code=1.4U4.wiEb.lvY7caQLHDx1&smid=url-share
The column is quite long and has an interesting discussion of Columbia's problems in finding the right balance between protecting staff and students from harassment while protecting freedom of expression.
Using your freedom of expression to protest the government’s support for a war killing thousands of civilians isn’t ****ting on us.
Tapate50
Well-known member
Pretty easy to build a narrative based on the big bad orange man
Nevermind the govt actually getting PTA meetings investigated by the fbi last term
The fair arbitrators BL/mqt didn’t take the time to admonish these things.
I must have missed all the arrests and deportations of concerned parents.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
These cases will likely turn on the fact that people are being persecuted based on their expressing a point of view. If all green card holders (non-citizens) were constrained by law from expressing any political point of view it might pass muster in the courts. But that is very far from being the case. Instead, those who have expressed a particular point of view are being singled out by the state. Which makes this an actual for real attack on freedom of expression. By the government.
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