Yesterday morning, our Deanna told you about the Columbia University graduate, Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by Department of Homeland Security agents, for deportation, under an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump regarding combating anti-Semitism on (elite) college campuses. Last evening, a court in Manhattan stayed the Order of Deportation. But, he cannot be deported, his wife is a U.S. citizen and she’s eight months pregnant and he has a Green Card and Whaah!

According to the New York Times, Khalil is just your average, everyday protest leader and didya know his wife is eight months pregnant:

The Trump administration invoked an obscure legal statute over the weekend in an attempt to deport a recent Columbia University graduate — and lawful permanent resident of the United States — who helped lead campus protests against Israel last year, people with knowledge of the action said on Monday.

Mahmoud Khalil, 30, who graduated in December from Columbia with a master’s degree from its School of International and Public Affairs, was arrested by immigration officers in New York on Saturday and sent to a detention center in Louisiana. Mr. Khalil, who has Palestinian heritage, holds a green card and is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.

There are a ton of crimes in the United States that will get you arrested and separated from your spouse, even if she is eight months pregnant.

The court that Khalil’s lawyers appealed to is the Southern District of New York, of course, and the judge is Judge Jesse S. Furman, brought to you by Barack H. Obama, naturally. Judge Furman issued an order saying that Khalil cannot be removed from the United States until he (Furman) makes a ruling:

That Wednesday meeting could be rather brief. What if dear Judge Furman doesn’t have jurisdiction? You saw that line about to preserve the court’s jurisdiction, Mr. Khalil cannot be removed from the United States. Well, the court in the Southern District of New York doesn’t have jurisdiction. What if Mr. Khalil is not in New York any longer? According to the New York Times:

On Monday, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered the government not to remove Mr. Khalil from the United States while the judge reviewed a petition challenging the legality of his detention. Mr. Khalil’s lawyers also filed a motion on Monday asking the judge to compel the federal government to transfer him back to New York.

According to the AP, Mr. Khalil is in an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana:

Khalil is being held at an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana, while he awaits immigration court proceedings that could eventually lead to him being deported. His arrest has drawn criticism that he’s being unfairly and unlawfully targeted for his activism while the federal government has essentially described him as a terrorist sympathizer

He is just a poor little lamb targeted by the evil Islamophobic, Jew-loving Republicans. More:

A green card holder is someone who has lawful permanent residence status in the United States.

Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer is a law professor at Cornell Law School who teaches immigration law. She said lawful permanent residents generally have many protections and “should be the most protected short of a US citizen.”

But that protection isn’t absolute. Green card holders can still be deported for committing certain crimes, failing to notify immigration officials of a change in address or engaging in marriage fraud, for example.

The Department of Homeland Security said Khalil was taken into custody as a result of Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism.

Trump has argued that protesters forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting the Palestinian group Hamas, which controls Gaza and has been designated as a terrorist organization.

Khalil and other student leaders of Columbia University Apartheid Divest have rejected claims of antisemitism, saying they are part of a broader anti-war movement that also includes Jewish students and groups. But the protest coalition, at times, has also voiced support for leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Islamist organization designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) says they are not anti-Semites. They just hate war. They voice support of Hamas and Hezbollah because of the war being waged against those poor, little dears. I say, “Don’t start nothing. Won’t be nothing.” They say this is a First Amendment issue. Poor Mahmoud with his Green Card and his eight months pregnant wife is being unfairly targeted. The Jerusalem Post actually discussed this last night:

Most recently, however, a Columbia graduate—Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder, which is to say a non-citizen—has been seized by federal authorities, as of Sunday March 9th. In coordination with the Department of State, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested the recently graduated Columbia University SIPA student for leading “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”

Jewish organizations and initiatives, and even individual Jewish students are alleged by many on campus to be the explicit cause of this action. Once again, if this sounds familiar—if it rings a bell of scapegoating, perhaps—that is because it is. The Jewish people have been blamed for centuries for the plight of others and often their very aggressors, as in this case.

Sounds like scapegoating Jews to me:

At what point is it a First Amendment issue or an inciting violence issue. He should have thought about his pregnant wife last Spring. Of course, she wasn’t pregnant then. Could this have been part of the sympathy plan? Not for me.

Featured Image: Abbad Diraneyya/Wikimedia Commons.org/cropped/Public Domain