Khalil, who is a green card holder, was arrested by ICE last week under the authority of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or INA, two officials at the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security told Zeteo News Tuesday.
Section 237(a)(4)(C)(i) of INA says that any "alien" is "deportable" if the secretary of state "has a reasonable ground" to believe their presence could result in "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences" for the United States.
Separately, a White House official told conservative rag The Free Press Monday that the government did not believe Khalil had committed an actual crime. "The allegation here is not that he was breaking the law," the official said.
The White House official alleged that Khalil was "mobilizing support for Hamas and spreading antisemitism in a way that is contrary to the foreign policy of the US," a claim that Khalil has denied and that the government has released no evidence to support.
The INA was originally used to oust those suspected of being Soviet spies. But it has never been used to punish speech, and it's unclear what evidence Rubio would need to provide to justify superseding Khalil's First Amendment rights.
Despite the shaky constitutional grounds, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Tuesday that the Trump administration fully intended to move forward with more arrests like Khalil's, meaning that its crackdown on the free speech of Palestinians and their advocates will likely continue.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Council for Immigration, posted on X that the application of the INA presented "very significant" problems with free speech and that "the law may well be unconstitutional."
Reichlin-Melnick explained that under the law, Khalil would still be entitled to an immigration hearing where he could challenge the basis of his deportation. His status as a lawful, permanent resident would not be immediately stripped.
Khalil, whose wife is eight months pregnant, was reportedly moved from New York to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, much to the surprise of his legal representation. U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman ordered a hold on Khalil's deportation Monday, "unless and until the Court orders otherwise," according to Reuters.
The lack of an actual criminal offense might explain why, at a press conference Tuesday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson gave a confusing explanation for the arrest of the protest organizer.
In a post on Truth Social Monday, President Donald Trump cheered the arrest of the green card-holding graduate student, writing that the presence of "terrorist sympathizers" was "contrary to our national and foreign policy interests."
The USadmin refuses to end its bromance with a racist mass murderer wanted by the ICC. Why is that? Most of the Trumpsters family are supporters of this jewish regime and live under the apartheid system. Perhaps that is why?
The Trumpster says he is horrified by the conflict in Palestine but says nothing of the crimes the isreali apartheid regime is committing and is still sending weapons. Actions speak louder than words. Perhaps the Trumpster needs the resources of the middle east for when the economy collapses? For military obsessed america, no war equals no economy. What we have witnessed in Ukraine shows that the USMIC have been taking the taxpayer money/debt and just winging it for years, possibly decades.