The Jewish Committee of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) condemns the Trump administration’s use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to target immigrant activists for their political beliefs. ICE has arrested and now threatens to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and leader of peace protests at Columbia University in New York City. Khalil is in the United States on a green card and not on a student visa. This is part of a broad attack by the Trump administration on the rights protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and the right to petition the government.

Trump said on Truth Social that Khalil’s arrest was the first of many to come. In a post Sunday on X, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the administration would revoke the visas and green cards “of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

Mahmoud Khalil was detained by ICE in New York City on Saturday, March 8. Diverse components of the broad all-people’s resistance to Trump and Musk’s attacks on the fundamental rule of law, and on the dignity of the working masses, stirred an immediate social media–driven response, including media attention, protests, and a mass letter writing campaign. On Monday, March 10, a federal judge blocked his removal as hundreds protested nearby outside the Federal Plaza.

While a judge has halted the deportation, Mahmoud Khalil remains detained in an ICE facility in Louisiana. He is not accused of violating any immigration laws and has not been charged with any crime.

We know that if Trump and MAGA can come for immigrant organizers, they can come for any and all of us. We join with all people across the country who believe in basic democracy to say: this shall not pass, bring Khalil home! As Bend the Arc: Jewish Action said, “Columbia student and New Yorker, Mahmoud Khalil — who was targeted and detained for constitutionally protected speech — should be home today with his wife, who is eight months pregnant, not missing in ICE detention, unreachable by his lawyers.”

We demand the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil. Please consider taking part in the Jewish Voice for Peace call Congress campaign demanding the immediate release of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil from DHS detention and a reversal of Columbia University’s protocol permitting ICE on campus without a warrant.

We further condemn the climate of hate, fear, and suspicion engendered by right-wing pro-Israel segments of the American Jewish community against our Muslim and Palestinian brothers and sisters.

The Trump administration, staffed with white nationalists, antisemites, and “great replacement” theorists, is being given cover for its clear anti-Semitic dog whistles by far-right pro-Israel organizations, to the detriment of basic safety and everyone’s constitutional rights.

The arrest prompted the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to post on social media that they “appreciate the Trump Administration’s broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus antisemitism — and this action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions.”

ADL support for the Trump–Musk regime’s decision to arrest and deport Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, for protesting the genocide of Palestinians, makes clear that the ADL continues to provide cover for Zionists and fascists by distorting and lying about anti-Semitism.

By endorsing the persecution of Mahmoud Khalil, the ADL is helping to normalize a broader wave of repression, one that could ultimately extend to Jews themselves. The Christian Nationalists running the Trump administration now demand that American Jews demonstrate unswerving loyalty to Israel or be branded as “self-hating Jews.” We have already seen Jewish citizens prosecuted for failing such “loyalty tests.” Now we see the administration trying to disappear a Muslim organizer.

From the Palmer raids to the McCarthy period, the Jewish Left has stood in solidarity with the working-class targets of state repression.

The Jewish Committee of the Communist Party USA stands in solidarity with all defenders of democracy, and we join the call for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil.

Image: Jews say, “ICE off campus now!” by Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition (CPSC) (X)