DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin warns visa holders who promote terrorism their status is ‘a privilege, not a right’
DHS plans to rearrest Columbia University encampment leader Mahmoud Khalil and deport him to Algeria, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said on Wednesday.
“Are there plans now to rearrest [Khalil] and continue with deportation proceedings?” NewsNation host Katie Pavlich asked McLaughlin.
“There are,” McLaughlin replied. “And it looks like he’ll go to Algeria. That’s what the thought is right now.”
“It’s a reminder for those who are in this country on a visa or on a green card,” she added. “You are a guest in this country. Act like it. It is a privilege, not a right, to be in this country to live or to study. And if you’re pushing propaganda that relishes the killings of Americans or promotes terrorists, door’s that way.”
McLaughlin’s announcement comes less than a week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit threw out a district court order that released Khalil from detention, ruling he could be rearrested and deported. That decision could also provide the Trump administration with new legal justifications against other foreign nationals it’s aiming to deport over anti-Semitic activities.
After Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack, Khalil became a prominent leader of the anti-Semitic Columbia University Apartheid Divest and served as a lead negotiator with Columbia during the illegal 2024 encampments. He pledged further unrest in the buildup to the fall 2024 semester, telling the Hill he would continue to push Columbia to divest from Israel by “any available means necessary.”
Video footage also placed Khalil at an illegal protest at Barnard College in March, during which agitators disseminated Hamas propaganda. He was arrested days later after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked his green card, arguing his presence caused “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” that would “compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.”
Khalil was detained for more than three months when a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release in June. But an immigration judge still ordered Khalil be deported in September after finding he “willfully misrepresented” his campus activism and work for the Hamas-tied U.N. Relief and Works Agency on his immigration forms. Then last week, the Third Circuit ruled that the district court lacked the jurisdiction to order Khalil’s release and demanded the case must first go through immigration court processes.
In the meantime, Khalil has used his freedom to continue supporting his anti-Semitic cause. During a July interview with CNN, he refused to condemn Hamas.
“Just to be clear here, do you specifically condemn Hamas, a designated terrorist organization in the United States, not just for their action on Oct. 7?” CNN’s Pamela Brown asked.
“I condemn the killing of all civilians,” Khalil responded. “Full stop. I don’t want to get into it.”
When Brown asked again, Khalil said, “I hate this selective outrage of condemnation, because this wouldn’t lead to a constructive conversation.”
Khalil also spoke at ArabCon alongside Hamas sympathizers and reaffirmed his commitment to “the liberation of Palestine.” He attended New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D.) election night party, which included other anti-Israel activists like Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and former congressman Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.).
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