As Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil faces deportation for his part in pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic protests, PBS News Hour would have its viewers believe that he is just a victim of a presidential administration that doesn’t like having its opinions challenged. On Monday’s episode, William Brangham falsely claimed there’s no proof to support the allegations against him.
Brangham began, “This arrest is part of the Trump administration's crackdown on anti-Semitism, particularly on college campuses, which were convulsed by protests last year during the height of the Hamas-Israel War. But officials have offered no evidence that Mr. Khalil broke any laws while at Columbia. And, today, crowds gathered in New York City to protest his arrest.”
Introducing his quest, Brangham continued, “For more on this, we are joined again by Abed Ayoub. He's the national director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee… We should say that a judge has ordered that Mr. Khalil cannot be deported until further court proceedings play out. And a hearing about his arrest is scheduled for later this week. But when you first heard about this seizure by immigration officials, what was your reaction?”
Ayoub naturally replied, “Look, the initial reaction was one of concern, deep concern, and disappointment, and concern not just only for Mahmoud, but concern for this country, that we are now going down a path where speech and expression is being criminalized this way. And this should be alarming for all Americans, not only those that are standing up for Palestine and Palestinian rights. This is an alarming happening right now in this country.”
Brangham then reported on a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump where he “wrote that ICE apprehended Mr. Khalil because he is — quote — ‘a radical foreign pro-Hamas student’ and that he's just one of many at Columbia and at other colleges,’ the president alleged, who have engaged in — quote — ‘pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.’"
He further alleged, “Now, as I said, the administration has not provided any details alleging that he has said or done any of those things. We simply at this point do not know. But what we do know is that he organized protests on Columbia. He negotiated with Columbia University officials about those protests.”
Continuing, Brangham recalled, “And some of those protests were quite intense. That said, does any of the actions alleged here give the government the authority to deport someone and change their immigration status?”
That’s an understatement. Back in the real world, Columbia sent Khalil a letter warning him he may be in violation of the university’s anti-harassment policy. Khalil was also very much involved in the recent takeover of school buildings where October 7 was praised and Hezbollah leaders lionized. He was also the leader of a group called Columbia University Apartheid Divestment, which is so radical that “radical” seems insufficient.
CUAD claims to fight colonialism and imperialism in all of its forms (except Russian or Chinese, of course), including in Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico. It isn’t so brazen to explicitly say it wants to eliminate Israel, but it does so quite implicitly or “a free Palestine. We necessarily envision an entire world free from colonialism and imperialism, and from all the interrelated systems of oppression that uphold them.”
As for Ayoub, he was happy to play along, “Absolutely not. The statements coming from the government are very heavy on accusations, but very light on evidence. Nothing has been shown or proven to be true so far, and nothing will be shown or proven to be true. The only thing Mr. Mahmoud has done that they don't like is the fact that he was part of these protests, organizing these protests and these rallies against the state of Israel and its actions.”
Here is a transcript for the March 10 show:
PBS News Hour
3/10/2025
7:30 PM ET
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amna, this arrest is part of the Trump administration's crackdown on anti-Semitism, particularly on college campuses, which were convulsed by protests last year during the height of the Hamas-Israel War.
But officials have offered no evidence that Mr. Khalil broke any laws while at Columbia. And, today, crowds gathered in New York City to protest his arrest. For more on this, we are joined again by Abed Ayoub. He's the national director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Abed, so good to have you back on the program.
We should say that a judge has ordered that Mr. Khalil cannot be deported until further court proceedings play out. And a hearing about his arrest is scheduled for later this week. But when you first heard about this seizure by immigration officials, what was your reaction?
ABED AYOUB: Thank you for having me on. Look, the initial reaction was one of concern, deep concern, and disappointment, and concern not just only for Mahmoud, but concern for this country, that we are now going down a path where speech and expression is being criminalized this way.
And this should be alarming for all Americans, not only those that are standing up for Palestine and Palestinian rights. This is an alarming happening right now in this country.
BRANGHAM: And the president today on Truth Social wrote that ICE apprehended Mr. Khalil because he is — quote — "a radical foreign pro-Hamas student" and that he's just one of many at Columbia and at other colleges,” the president alleged, who have engaged in — quote — "pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity."
Now, as I said, the administration has not provided any details alleging that he has said or done any of those things. We simply at this point do not know. But what we do know is that he organized protests on Columbia. He negotiated with Columbia University officials about those protests.
And some of those protests were quite intense. That said, does any of the actions alleged here give the government the authority to deport someone and change their immigration status?
AYOUB: Absolutely not. The statements coming from the government are very heavy on accusations, but very light on evidence. Nothing has been shown or proven to be true so far, and nothing will be shown or proven to be true.
The only thing Mr. Mahmoud has done that they don't like is the fact that he was part of these protests, organizing these protests and these rallies against the state of Israel and its actions. And that seems to be a taboo topic that you can't talk about. And, if you do, this is the situation you end up in.
All he did was exercise his First Amendment rights, his right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and that was enough to trigger the actions and to trigger what we're seeing now. And, again, this should be concerning to all Americans that, in this country, I have the right to protest my own president, my own government, but I don't have the right to protest a foreign government or a foreign leadership.
That should raise many questions and red flags for all Americans.
