ICE is Trump's Gestapo

This sounds like hyperbole. It's not. The Trump regime is now engaging in the warrantless arrests of people it considers to be dissidents.

Mar 11, 2025

Yesterday I mentioned in a brief update to my blog about immigration matters that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a lawful permanent resident who had participated in peaceful demonstrations at Columbia University last spring. The demonstrations took place to protest against Israel’s bombing of Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ horrific October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

For those who don’t follow immigration news, below are some additional details about what happened to the individual in question, a graduate student of Palestinian heritage named Mahmoud Khalil. This should worry us all, because it’s not really about immigration — it’s about stifling free speech.

I have shamelessly cribbed the title of this blog post from

Qasim Rashid, Esq.

, who wrote in his Substack that “ICE is Officially Trump’s Gestapo.” The title of his post, ICE Abducts and Disappears US Green Card Holder Mahmoud Khalil, is also spot on.

That’s right. The U.S. government is now abducting and disappearing dissidents who dare to exercise their right to free speech.

According to multiple credible news reports, in the evening on Saturday, March 8, 2025, ICE officers entered an apartment building owned by Columbia University. Mahmoud Khalil, who graduated with a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in December 2024 (a degree which is due to be conferred during commencement ceremonies in May 2025), was living in an apartment in the building with his wife, a U.S. citizen (who happens to be eight months pregnant).

Khalil’s attorney, Amy Greer, issued a statement in which she said that ICE agents arrested him without a warrant, claiming that his student visa was revoked. When he told them that he was a lawful permanent resident, ICE agents said that in that case, his green card was revoked, and arrested him anyway — even though permanent residence can only be revoked for egregious reasons and only after a hearing before an immigration judge. Khalil was never told the reason for his arrest. And when his wife tried to visit him the next day at the immigrant detention facility in New Jersey where she was told he was being held, he was not there and she was given no information about his whereabouts. He had simply disappeared.

On Monday, it was learned that Khalil had been transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana. It is a common ICE ploy to move detainees to faraway locations, and serves the agency’s intended purpose of cutting off detainees from family, friends and lawyers. It’s probably also not a coincidence that immigration judges in Louisiana overwhelmingly decide in favor of deporting immigrants who appear before them. Nor is it likely a coincidence that Louisiana is located in the Fifth Circuit, which also has a history of ruling against appeals in immigration cases.

It turns out that Khalil had been subject to months of harassment and “doxxing,” and that as recently as March 7 — the day before he was arrested — he had reached out to Columbia University (not for the first time) to ask for help. According to

Prem Thakker

of Zeteo, Khalil wrote in an email to Columbia interim president Katrina Armstrong, “I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support, and I urge you to intervene and provide the necessary protections to prevent further harm.”

President Trump has lauded the arrest, calling Khalil in a post on Truth Social a “Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student” and vowing that “[t]his is the first arrest of many to come.” Trump also wrote, “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.”

Lawyers for Khalil have already filed a petition for habeas corpus in federal court in New York. They also filed a motion seeking to have Khalil returned to New York. At this writing, the judge on the case has already enjoined the government from deporting him until the court orders otherwise.

Georgetown Law Professor

Steve Vladeck

details in his newsletter some of the possible grounds upon which the government could seek to deport a permanent resident. One would be if the Secretary of State “has reasonable ground to believe” that the person’s “presence or activities in the United States … would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Another ground would be if the foreign national “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.” As Vladeck speculates, “Perhaps the argument is going to be that, insofar as Khalil was involved in organizing pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia’s campus, he was ‘endors[ing] or espous[ing]’ terrorist activity (to wit, by Hamas).”

But what this really seems to be about was explained succinctly in Time Magazine:

“Khalil’s arrest comes just days after Trump announced he would revoke $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, accusing the school of not doing enough to prevent antisemitism on campus. To critics, the move is intended to silence political speech critical of U.S. foreign policy.”

I have provided links below to news reports and analyses of what happened. This is obviously a developing story. My purpose here is simply to make the following important point:

To date there is no evidence that Khalil has done anything but exercise his right to free speech. This is a right accorded by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and is not limited to U.S. citizens. Khalil served as a lead negotiator with Columbia University and Barnard College during the demonstrations on those campuses last spring. His prominent role garnered press attention which put him at risk. His arrest affects not only him and his family, but will have a chilling effect on others who may now fear to speak up and exercise their right of free expression about controversial matters. Keep in mind that the peaceful, student-led, anti-war encampment at Columbia University last year was organized in solidarity with Jewish students and faculty members. This is not about fighting antisemitism. It’s about suppressing dissent, demonizing immigrants (especially Muslims), dividing the American people, and shoring up Trump’s authoritarian government.