Trump Administration Cracks Down on Gaza Protesters

Gaza demonstrators protest at Columbia University, 2024 (Wikimedia Commons)

Flexing newfound authority as one of the most unitary executives in years, the Trump administration has exercised broad discretion over the month of March in deporting foreigners it sees as a threat to the United States, including, most recently, a Georgetown University researcher. He, like several before him, was seemingly detained for his opposition to U.S. support for Israel during the October 7 conflict. This episode is the latest in a series of clashes between immigration authorities and free speech.

Badar Khan Suri, a research fellow on a work and study-based exchange visitor visa, was detained by immigration authorities on March 17. However, any potential for deportation was blocked by a federal judge. The Department of Homeland security accused him of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism” and having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist.” This seemingly refers to his critical views of U.S. foreign policy and his marriage to Mapheze Saleh, a U.S. citizen and former official in Gaza’s foreign ministry and current graduate student in the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS). Suri is currently detained in Louisiana. 

The Caravel obtained an internal email circulated among SFS faculty the day of the incident. The SFS Dean, Joel Hellman, clarified that he was “not aware that Badar has engaged in any illegal activity, nor has he posed a threat to the security of our campus,” and claims he was “exercising his constitutionally protected rights.” While he went on to discuss his fear that events like this could have a cooling effect on free speech, he also stated they were complying with the federal government. 

We reached out to the University for further comment. They stated they hadn’t received justification for Mr. Suri’s arrest, and they “expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”

The situation follows the similar detainment of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a veteran leader of the 2024 Columbia protests. On March 9, Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered his apartment and took him into custody for having “led activities aligned to Hamas” during the protests. He briefly stayed in a detention facility in New Jersey before being transferred to Louisiana. 

In his detention facility, Mr. Khalil published a letter to the press. Echoing much of the nation’s sentiment on the situation, he called himself a “political prisoner.” According to his testimony, conditions in the immigration facility were dismal and detainees there were consistently denied their constitutional rights. He also accused the Trump administration of arresting him as part of a “broader strategy to suppress dissent.”

Both were arrested under an old Red Scare-era law, the Immigrant and Nationality Act of 1952. It states that any “alien” the Secretary of State has “reasonable grounds” to assume would be a threat to the United States can be deported, legal residence or not. While it provides the Secretary of State broad discretion, using it to deport legal residents for political messages is unprecedented. 

Fearing the effect this may have on free speech, multiple Democratic Congresspeople have publicly called for Suri’s release. Democratic offices in Congress have also been flooded with calls demanding ICE release him. Suppression of speech does not seem to be an unfounded concern either, as some students feel targeted and afraid to voice their opinions. At Columbia specifically, some students fear that, after the arrest of their classmates, they could be next.

However, the judicial system seems to be providing some relief. A federal judge blocked the arrest of Badar Khan Suri, and, at Brown University, another judge temporarily blocked the deportation of a Brown University professor also arrested for her views on U.S. foreign policy. The issue is that the Trump administration hasn’t always respected court orders. The Brown professor, who had been in the United States since 2018, was deported to Lebanon despite the judge’s order. 

In another instance, ICE deported two planes’ worth of Venezuelans after claiming they were members of Tren de Aragua, an international criminal organization. Trump signed an executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 late on March 14, and the alleged criminals were deported the following afternoon. A few hours later, a judge ordered their deportation be reversed, but the White House argued it didn’t apply since the planes were over international waters by then. That argument could set the stage for a Supreme Court showdown, where the Trump administration has the advantage with a 6-3 conservative majority, three of them appointed by Trump himself. 

These arrests and deportations tell two conflicting narratives. The administration claims these are necessary measures to protect American interests from foreign adversaries and threats from within, while its detractors accuse Trump and his allies of suppressing free speech. As the situation boils over, the clash will more than likely set up a battle between the authority of the executive and judicial branches. Moreover, it will also set the stage for confrontation between the government and universities over individual freedoms on-campus. As the executive branch exercises its strength, it will inevitably come to collide with its opponents’ domains.