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cover of episode Campus protesters have faced deportation threats before

Campus protesters have faced deportation threats before

2025/3/26
logo of podcast Consider This from NPR

Consider This from NPR
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Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student, was arrested by federal agents on accusations of being a Hamas sympathizer, a claim his wife denies. The arrest is part of a broader crackdown on foreign-born students for alleged pro-Hamas activities.
  • Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by ICE agents and detained in Louisiana.
  • He has not been charged with a crime but is accused of being a Hamas sympathizer.
  • His wife, Nora Abdallah, denies the allegations, calling them smears.
  • Another student, Ranjani Sreenivasan, faced visa revocation and fled to Canada.
  • The Trump administration's efforts have raised concerns about First Amendment rights for student activists.

Shownotes Transcript

In January of 1987, Michel Shehadeh, a Palestinian man who'd lawfully immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager, was taking care of his toddler son at home when federal agents arrived at his door and arrested him at gunpoint. Shehadeh soon learned he was one of eight immigrants arrested on charges relating to their pro-Palestinian activism. Then, in March of 2025, federal agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate student, and Georgetown professor Badar Khan Suri. Both are in the U.S. legally, being threatened with deportation. And both are targets of the Trump administration's crackdown on what they describe as anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas speech on college campuses. We hear from David Cole, who represented the Los Angeles Eight for insight into this moment, and what we can learn from their plight.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org).Email us at [email protected]).Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)