Accountability is not the enemy of freedom. It is its greatest ally. That truth is being taught to Mahmoud Khalil, the anti-Israel Columbia student spokesperson currently facing deportation for “activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States” (Section 1182(a)(3)(C) of the United States Code).
Khalil now imagines himself to be a “political prisoner,” when in fact it is he who made himself an unwelcome guest of the US.
Khalil no doubt hates this law as do many of his defenders, but if we are a nation that willfully or negligently fails to apply the laws that protect the rights of its citizens, especially from non-citizens who infringe upon them, how can we be free?
Yes, I understand that the prime mover behind this section of the law was a notorious, McCarthyist, anti-Semite, Sen. Pat McCarran. But, does it somehow make us a better country for an activist whose actions support Hamas to be free from accountability for trampling on the rights of Jewish citizens just because the guy who authored the law that can now protect us was a scumbag?
If the character of the authors of our laws determines which ones we will now use to safeguard our country, then we would have to rip up the Constitution.
Whether you like this particular law or not, there is no question that the first obligation of a nation is to its citizens and Mahmoud Khalil is not one. He is a permanent resident, colloquially known as a “Green Card Holder” because of the original color of the document.
There is a common misapprehension that being a permanent resident is essentially the same as being a citizen, but without the right to vote.
On the contrary, permanent residency is more like being a guest with refrigerator privileges. You are welcome to stay for a long time, but you are not part of the family.
In fact, a Green Card has to be renewed every 10 years, meaning that it has more in common with a long-term visa than it is a truly permanent status.
The impermanence of permanent residency is why I have spent a good part of my career in international tax reminding Green Card holders to take great care in adhering to their obligations under the tax laws of the US. Failure to report foreign financial accounts is a criminal act.
Failure to report income “from whatever source derived” is a potential cause for adjustment of status when applying for or renewing a Green Card.
I caution Green Card holders to avoid listening to citizen neighbors who tell them that if they do not get a 1099 from the bank that they don’t have to report the interest.
If you are a citizen of the US, that petty act of tax evasion is unlikely to amount to much, but if you are a Green Card holder, you have failed to abide by the strictures clearly articulated by the US Customs and Immigration Service, which state, “As a permanent resident, you are required to obey all laws of the United States and localities; required to file your income tax returns and report your income to the US Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities.”
“Obey all laws.”
That maximalist expression of what we expect of long-term guests of the US is an important one. We might make allowances for citizens who are cavalier with their obligations under the law, but we are not required to tolerate the misdeeds of non-citizens.
Mahmoud Khalil pretends that he is being punished for exercising his right to free expression as part of his campaign for support among the like-minded, but he is as wrong about that as he was wrong to take part in a campus movement that engaged in trespassing and the violation of the civil rights of Jewish students of Columbia, many of whom are citizens of the US and not guests like him.
This is not about immigration enforcement, and equating Khalil’s circumstances with the peril of other immigrants is grotesque. The millions of people who enter this country, legally or illegally, out of a sincere desire for political freedom and economic opportunity deserve not to be seen in the same light as advocates of genocide against the Jewish people.
For these people we should be working to change the law to grant them the freedom they so richly desire rather than making it seem that Mahmoud Khalil is somehow their standard-bearer.
What did Khalil do that was so offensive to the foreign policy of the US? Well, the last time I checked, which was as I wrote this sentence, Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the US while Israel is an ally. Further, the formal policy of the US is to advocate for a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
At Columbia, did the trespassing groups that seized the campus chant “From the river to the sea, one state for you and one state for me?”
Did they yell “hey, hey, ho, ho, mutual land swaps are the way to go?”
No, they took over open areas and buildings in actions that are clearly understood by the enemies of the US as being supportive of them while using slogans and imagery that were used by terrorists in their slaughter of Israelis. That seems like its contrary to the foreign policy of the US to me.
Mahmoud Khalil is not a citizen of the US. While freedom of speech is a critical value, a non-citizen participating in a campus takeover and the bullying of Jewish students is engaged in actions, not just words.
Those who are citizens of US deserve to be protected by our government against those who threaten us, even if they leverage being a permanent resident to do it. Mahmoud Khalil needs to be held to account. He needs to be deported. These things protect our freedom. They do not destroy it.
