Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, said Monday that federal authorities “absolutely can” deport a legal immigrant after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Columbia University graduate with a green card.
“Absolutely, we can,” Homan told Stuart Varney on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” after the host asked about the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a leading pro-Palestinian activist, and if ICE can deport someone who is in the country legally.
“I mean, did he violate the terms of his visa? Did he violate the terms of his residency here, you know, committing crimes, attacking Israeli students, locking down buildings, destroying property? Absolutely, any resident alien who commits a crime is eligible for deportation,” Homan added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Khalil was arrested at his Columbia residence on Saturday due to his activities in leading the pro-Palestinian encampment at the university last spring.
The Student Workers of Columbia labor union described him as the “lead negotiator” in the protests with the school.
“We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud’s rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable — and calculated — wrong committed against him,” Amy Greer, Khalil’s attorney, said in a statement to NBC News.
The arrest marks the first step the Trump administration has made to deport college students who participated in the nationwide protests last year, which led to the arrest of 2,000 individuals.
“This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” Trump said about the arrest.
Columbia protesters were the ringleader of the movement and saw big escalations between demonstrators and university administrators such as a takeover of a school building and classes moving online.
“And that’s just one out of many,” Homan said. “We’re going to send a strong message to say, anybody here on a foreign visa, that you’re given a great right to come to the greatest country on Earth and study in our colleges. But when you come here to study, you got to obey the laws of this country. You got to obey the requirements of that visa to be lawful while you’re here.”
“So, it’s a great privilege to study in this country, but, when we give you that right to study in this country, don’t violate our laws,” he added.
