US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) met on Tuesday with Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian Arab activist who organized anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.
Sanders shared a photo of the two on social media and wrote, “I met with Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student at Columbia University, who was imprisoned for 104 days by the Trump administration for opposing Netanyahu’s illegal & horrific war in Gaza. Outrageous.”
“We must not allow Trump to destroy the First Amendment & freedom to dissent,” added Sanders.
Khalil was arrested on March 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as part of the administration’s crackdown on anti-Israel protests on US campuses.
At the time of his arrest, Khalil was a highly visible figure in the nationwide campus protests against the war in Gaza. Following his detention, US authorities transferred Khalil from his New York home to a detention center in Louisiana, where he awaited deportation proceedings.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio had invoked a law, approved during the 1950s Red Scare, which permits the United States to remove foreign nationals deemed adverse to US foreign policy.
However, a judge later ruled that the government could not detain or deport Khalil based on Rubio's assertions that his presence on US soil constituted a national security threat.
Khalil was released on bail in late June and has filed a lawsuit seeking $20 million in damages from the Trump administration.
Sanders has been an outspoken opponent of Israel's actions during the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza, which began after the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in southern Israel.
Last November, the US Senate voted against an effort by Sanders to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel amid concerns over civilian casualties in Gaza.
In March, Sanders again initiated legislative efforts to halt $9 billion in arms sales to Israel. In this case as well, both resolutions were defeated in a Senate vote in April.
More recently, the Jewish lawmaker vehemently denounced the visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with Trump.
Sanders characterized the day as "a shameful day in America," citing the International Criminal Court's (ICC) issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged "war crimes."
While neither Israel nor the US are state parties of the ICC, Senator Sanders wrote, "Today, a war criminal under indictment from the ICC will be welcomed to the White House."