Transcript of Lawyer for Columbia student detained by ICE for pro-Palestine protests speaks out

Joining us now live for more is a lawyer of Mahmoud Khalil Bahrazmi. Thank you so much for joining us. First off, have you had a chance to speak with Khalil?

I have not had a chance to speak with him. I'm not his primary immigration attorney. His immigration attorney did speak with him briefly, although after trying to schedule a formal legal call, which should have been scheduled within a day or two, has not been able to schedule one for another 10 days, which is extraordinary.

The President called him a, quote, radical a pro-Hamas student due to his participation in on-campus protests against Israel's attacks in Gaza. What authority does the government have to enter a private institution's property and arrest a student?

Well, Colombia has been fairly complicit with ICE in permitting the targeting of their very own students. So he was approached on campus, but outside of his apartment, and as your reporting suggested, based on false assumption that he was here only on a visa and that they would revoke his visa. But of course, he has a green card and is lawfully present and cannot be detained without process and certainly cannot be detained or removed in retaliation for constitutionally protected speech.

Besides his participation in the protest, is there any other reason that's been presented for him being arrested?

None at all. They've invoked this broad, vague immigration authority that in theory allows, with due process, the removal of someone based on a certification of the Secretary of State that they're compromising national security interests. This is a preposterous and dangerous extension of that authority is basically meant to remove spies, not individuals engaged in human rights activism.

Khalil is here legally. He has obtained a green card. First, just tell us the vetting and everything it takes to get a green card in the process the government has to take then to revoke it?

Yeah. I mean, green cards are very challenging to get. There are security protocols with DHS and Department of state before one can get one. The idea that he is an extremist or violence is preposterous to anyone who knows him. He is a calm, measured, deliberate, ethical leader who has profound commitment to Palestinian human rights and was standing up to demand that the world pay attention to an ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Surely that's contrary to administration policy, but that is not unlawful and certainly does not permit the obvious repression that the President and Secretary of State, Rubio, have admitted they're engaged in by terrorizing this individual.

All right, well, we will love for you to keep us posted on how this all turns out. Bahra Asmi, we thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.