Washington, March 13 (RHC)-- Fourteen members of the U.S. Congress have signed a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanding the release of recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident of the U.S. who was arrested by immigration authorities for helping organize campus protests in solidarity with Palestinians. 

The 14 lawmakers, all Democrats, wrote: “Khalil’s constitutional rights have been violated.  He has been denied meaningful access to counsel and any visitation from his family.  This is absolutely unacceptable — and illegal.”

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued Secretary of State Marco Rubio has broad authority under the Cold War-era Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 to declare someone “deportable.”

Khalil, who is being held at an ICE jail in Jena, Louisiana, will not be brought back to New York without a court order.

On Tuesday, at least a dozen people were arrested in New York City as hundreds gathered to demand Khalil’s release.  Protests in solidarity with Khalil have spread to campuses nationwide. 

Graeme Blair, a political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, where hundreds rallied on Tuesday, spoke with reporters: “Students are rightly scared, and I’m scared, frankly, because not only is the Trump White House deciding to target peaceful protesters because of their views about the war in Gaza and the complicity of our university in funding it, but they are being helped by university administrators around the country.”

[ SOURCE: DEMOCRACY NOW ]