Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student being held in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, is comparing “some aspects” of his conditions to those who were in Nazi concentration camps.
“I pick up my copy of Viktor Frankl’s ‘Man’s Search for Meaning.’ I feel ashamed to compare my conditions in ICE detention to Nazi concentration camps, yet, some aspects of Frankl’s experience resonate: not knowing what fate awaits me; seeing resignation and defeat in my fellow detainees,” Khalil wrote in a new op-ed published in The Washington Post.
Khalil has been in ICE detention for more than a month while his wife is set to give birth in two weeks. A green-card holder, Khalil was picked up and targeted because of his position as the lead negotiator for the pro-Palestinian encampment on his campus last spring.
In a recent ruling, an immigration judge said Khalil’s proceedings could continue based on the government’s argument the secretary of State can order the deportation of noncitizens if they pose adverse effects to the foreign policy of the United States.
In the proceedings, the judge gave the government 24 hours to produce evidence. Khalil’s lawyers argue the judge’s move was too quick and did not give them enough time to review the Trump administration’s filings.
Khalil in the op-ed criticized “the breakneck speed with which my case was heard and decided,” arguing it ran “roughshod over due process.”
In a separate proceeding in federal court challenging his detention, the judge ruled Khalil could not yet be deported.
Khalil decried his detention as illegal and said no evidence has been produced against him besides his pro-Palestinian speech.
“Why should protesting Israel’s indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians result in the erosion of my constitutional rights?” Khalil said.
He hopes his detention will be a warning and inspiration to others to stand up against injustice.
“I write this letter as the sun rises, hoping that the suspension of my rights will raise alarm bells that yours are already in jeopardy. I hope it will inspire your outrage that the most basic human instinct, to protest shameless massacre, is being repressed by obscure laws, racist propaganda and a state terrified of an awakened public,” Khalil wrote in his conclusion.
“I hope this writing will startle you into understanding that a democracy for some – a democracy of convenience – is no democracy at all. I hope it will shake you into acting before it is too late,” he ended.
