Newsmax judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano pushed back against the Trump administration’s claim that it has the right to deport pro-Palestinian organizer Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student and U.S. green card holder. During a Thursday segment on Newsmax, Napolitano criticized the administration’s justification for Khalil’s detention, noting that no criminal allegations have been made against him.
“I think he expressed political opinions that the Trump administration rejects, and that can hardly be the basis for a deportation,” Napolitano stated. “I make that statement on the basis of having read the charging documents against him, filed in the immigration court and presented to Judge Furman yesterday.
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They allege no behavior that’s unlawful. They allege no crime. They allege no activity on the Columbia campus.” He continued, highlighting that the case was built on political opinion rather than legal grounds.
“They simply allege the opinion of Marco Rubio, who probably doesn’t even know this guy exists, as the Secretary of State, that his presence in the United States presents a danger to American foreign policy,” Napolitano added. “Well, guess what? We don’t punish people on the basis of that. They’re going to have to come up with something a lot more concrete and unlawful in order to justify his deportation.”
Napolitano further argued that Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, should be required to testify after claiming that Khalil posed a “national security threat.” “If I were his defense lawyers, I’d subpoena Tom Homan,” Napolitano said. “Now, I’m saying this as a longtime, longtime friend of Tom Homan, because what he said about this guy and the presser that you just ran is totally inconsistent with what the government said about him in court.”
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Homan, speaking on Wednesday, defended the administration’s stance by arguing that free speech has limits. “When you are on campuses—I hear ‘speech,’ ‘freedom of speech,’ ‘freedom of speech’—can you stand at a movie theater and yell fire? Can you slander? Free speech has limitations,” Homan asserted. “Coming to this country either on a visa or becoming a resident alien is a great privilege, but there are rules associated with that.
You might have been able to get away with that stuff in the last administration, but not this administration.” As the legal battle unfolds, Napolitano’s comments highlight the tensions surrounding immigration enforcement and political speech under the Trump administration.
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