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Is the Trump Administration Taking Deportation Orders From Extremists?

Mahmoud Khalil believes that his deportation resulted from advocacy work by anti-Palestinian groups.

Selcuk Acar/Anadolu/Getty Images

Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil talks to the press. 

Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestine activist detained by the Trump administration and threatened with deportation, thinks that government officials coordinated with anti-Palestinian groups and organizations to target him.

Zeteo News reports that Khalil and his legal team from the Center of Constitutional Rights filed a Freedom of Information Act request with several government agencies to “document and expose the reported collaboration between federal officials and private, anti-Palestinian organizations who have identified, doxxed, and reported him and others for purposes of securing the deportation of student activists advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights.”

In their request, Khalil’s lawyers say that his arrest, as well as that of other pro-Palestine activists, shows patterns that indicate the government is working with outside groups who are working together to target such activists. These groups, which include the pro-Israel academic blacklist Canary Mission and far-right Betar USA, publicly take credit every time one of these arrests are announced.

As early as January, Betar, a Revisionist Zionist organization that has been labeled “extremist” by the Anti Defamation League was recommending foreign students and teachers to the Trump administration for deportation because they protested against Israel. Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at what he thought was a U.S. citizenship interview, was also on Betar’s list.

According to Zeteo, the FOIA request cites several examples of Betar and other organizations creating profiles for Khalil and attacking him on social media. Activists from these organizations, such as Betar head Ross Glick, reportedly met with Senator John Fetterman and the office of Senator Ted Cruz to discuss deportation efforts.

Fetterman denied working with Betar, telling Zeteo that “I do not support private organizations coming up with deportation lists, and in any event, I would never participate or assist in that.” The State Department, on the other hand, didn’t deny working with such organizations.

“Given our commitment to and responsibility for national security, the Department uses all available tools to receive and review concerning information when considering visa revocations about possible ineligibilities,” a department spokesperson told Zeteo.”