When a Guest Crossed a Host's Line

Mahmoud Khalil asked the Supreme Court to hear his case. He wanted to fight his deportation. If the judges agree, they will choose a very old and heated American political fight. The fight is over two hundred years old.

Khalil was not a US citizen. He was born in Palestine and had Syrian roots. He came to America with legal permission. He did not agree with leaders who won a fair vote. He used his legal rights to push for policies that favored Hamas more than Israel. Donald Trump felt a visitor should not be able to challenge the host nation. So ICE began deportation steps. He was held at Columbia University. He was a graduate student.

The courts then stepped in. A New Jersey judge said ICE must release him. The judge thought his case might lose on free speech. For now, the judge said, he could keep talking about Palestine. Other judges had said foreign-born people have free speech rights. A federal appeals court in Pennsylvania later reversed a decision that freed him. A huge question remains open. When can America deport a foreign political activist?

If Khalil were Russian and wanted US support for Ukraine to stop, Democrats would likely want him gone. A Biden-led government might seek a spying-related reason to deport him. The Trump administration did not seek fake reasons. It focused on the main issue. The nation's first leaders viewed the issue much like Trump does.

George Washington said America should stay neutral during the fight between revolutionary France and Great Britain. France sent agents. One was Edmond-Charles Genet. He served as an acting ambassador. He worked against Washington. France wanted America in the war.