In the past week, the US government has arrested, detained and is attempting to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident who organised Palestinian solidarity protests at Columbia University. In Australia on Wednesday, Liberal MP Julian Leeser said on a live stream that the Coalition will promise to do the same if they win the federal election. Let me run you through both stories.

The arrest of Mahmoud Khalil

On Saturday, 8 March, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took Mahmoud Khalil from his apartment in New York and detained him in an immigration jail in Louisiana. Khalil is Palestinian-Syrian man who is a US permanent resident (his wife is a US citizen), an activist and postgraduate student at Columbia university. Khalil was a key organiser of the Palestinian liberation protests at the university, including the campus occupations in 2024 (you might remember students taking over Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and renaming it ‘Hind’s Hall’ – which inspired the Macklemore protest song too).

Khalil’s lawyers said on the evening of his arrest agents said they were there to revoke his student visa – when told he had a green card, they said they would revoke that anyway. Khalil was taken from his home without a warrant and was not charged with any crime. At the time of writing, Mahmoud Khalil remains detained without charge.

Why was he taken? I’m sure I don’t need to spell it out for you. On Sunday, 9 March a government spokesperson confirmed Khalil was arrested “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism” because his involvement in the protests amounted to “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization” according to the State Department (what the US calls its immigration department).  During his election campaign, Trump promised to deport people who held political beliefs he disagreed with – Mahmoud Khalil is the first high profile example of this in action.

But Khalil has not been deported yet. His lawyers made a submission to the court that his arrest was unconstitutional; a judge has temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation to allow more time to consider the case. His lawyers will fight two separate cases: one defending against his deportation, seeking to overturn the order to cancel his green card; and the one they have filed arguing his arrest was unconstitutional and in breach of his First Amendment right to free speech, which has been brought against the State Department, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In the meantime, Khalil’s immigration hearing has apparently been scheduled for 27 March. 

Far-right Zionist group Betar US says it has compiled a “deportation list” of thousands of people who have participated in Palestinian liberation protests and sent this to the Trump administration. Betar has also claimed responsibility for running an online campaign to have Khalil deported. And Rubio said the US government does intend to deport more people like Khalil.

Bad times in a very bad place. Unfortunately, on Australian soil…

Liberal MP Julian Leeser promises similar deportations

On Wednesday, 12 March, federal Liberal MP Julian Leeser was a guest on a live stream for the Australian Jewish Association (a far-right Zionist organisation). On the stream (which, at time of writing, you can still watch at the above link), Leeser highlighted some of the things the Coalition intends to do if it wins this year’s federal election:

• Leeser says the Coalition will create an antisemitism task force that combines the Australian Federal Police, state and territory police, ASIO, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, AUSTRAC (the financial intelligence agency) and Border Force;

• They will issue a ministerial direction telling the AFP to prioritise antisemitism;

• They will cancel the visas and deport anyone who has engaged in (their definition of) antisemitism, and change the migration criteria so that visa holders who have engaged in antisemitism since October 7 2023 can also be deported.

Antisemitism is serious, dangerous and should be treated as such by Australian authorities. But when considering the above commitments, keep in mind that Leeser is one of the MPs who pushed for Australian universities to incorporate a contested definition of antisemitism into their policies – one which defines “criticism of Israel” as antisemitic. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Leeser, Labor MP Josh Burns and independent MP Allegra Spender have all lobbied for the adoption of this definition.

Later, in the Q&A portion of the livestream a participant asked Leeser about this policy to “revoke visas or citizenships of people who are pro-Hamas supporters”, asking what the government would do if this was challenged in the courts. Leeser replied: “We live in a country where the rule of law exists, and the rule of law means that people are entitled to go to courts and challenge government decisions. We might not always like the decisions of courts or tribunals, that's why we have appeal processes and ultimately if the matters go to the High Court … we can change the law. Peter Dutton has even said if [visa cancellation] matters relate to something to do with the constitution, he's willing to countenance a referendum on those issues.”

One last thing: Leeser is considered to be part of the shrinking ‘moderate’ faction within the Liberal party; he campaigned for the ‘Yes’ vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum. 

– Crystal
Founder & Chief of Everything at Zee Feed
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