Members of the House and Senate seek to distance themselves from Hamas and campus antisemitism.
The Trump administration's arrest of a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University, who faces deportation for his prominent role in campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war, has deeply divided Democrats. Despite their condemnation of Mahmoud Khalil's arrest as a violation of his First Amendment rights to protest, Senate and House Democrats have tempered their criticism to avoid supporting campus protests that at times featured Jewish students being harassed and assaulted.
In addition, they are taking care to condemn Hamas for its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the abduction of 250 others. This provoked an Israeli response that has led to tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza, many of which have been civilians. In a post to X on Tuesday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote, "I abhor many of the opinions and policies that Mahmoud Khalil holds and supports, and have made my criticism of the antisemitic actions at Columbia loudly known." However, the Democrat from New York challenged the Trump administration, which has referred to Khalil as a Hamas supporter, to provide a justification for his arrest over the weekend by immigration agents outside his apartment in New York. “If the administration cannot prove he has violated any criminal law to justify taking this severe action and is doing it for the opinions he has expressed, then that is wrong, they are violating the First Amendment protections we all enjoy and should drop their wrongheaded action.”
Khalil is a Palestinian from Syria who entered the United States on a student visa and had obtained a green card, or legal permanent residency. According to court papers, his lawyers claim that his wife, who is an American citizen, is eight months pregnant. President Donald Trump, who has said he wants to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses, celebrated the arrest in a social media post, saying it was “the first of many to come.”
On Monday, a federal judge set a hearing on the case for Wednesday and put an end to the Trump administration's attempts to deport Khalil. The statement that Schumer issued was similar to one that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued on Monday. Jeffries wrote, "There is a serious university disciplinary process that can handle the matter to the extent his actions were inconsistent with Columbia University policy and created an unacceptable hostile academic environment for Jewish students and others." “Absent evidence of a crime, such as providing material support for a terrorist organization, the actions undertaken by the Trump administration are wildly inconsistent with the United States Constitution.”
The arrest is causing similar problems for other prominent Democrats. Rep. Some of the campus protests that broke out across the country following the attack on Oct. 7 concerned Adam Smith of Washington State, he stated. However, in a social media post, he stated that "Khalil committed no crime" and "shouldn't be imprisoned for expressing his political views." In a letter sent to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Tuesday, a small number of Democratic representatives expressed support for the pro-Palestinian movement while simultaneously calling for Khalil's release. The letter, which was signed by Palestinian-American Representative, stated, "We must be extremely clear: this is an attempt to criminalize political protest and is a direct assault on the freedom of speech of everyone in this country." Michigan resident Rashida Tlaib. "Khalil's arrest is an anti-Palestinian racist act meant to silence this country's Palestinian solidarity movement."
The letter was also signed by other Democratic House members, including Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan, New York Rep. Rep. Nydia Velázquez of Minnesota Ilhan Omar and Representative Jasmine Crockett.
In November of 2023, Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, was slammed for her remarks regarding the Israel-Hamas war. In 2023, Ohmar was kicked out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee due to remarks she had made in the past that criticized the Israeli government.