Comment by senderista
9 days ago
Nobody involved in pro-Palestine protests has been sent to El Salvador. AFAIK only Venezuelan or Salvadoran nationals accused of membership in Tren de Aragua or MS-13 have been sent there. (If I'm wrong please correct me!)
Mahmoud Khalil hasn't been deported (yet) but he was absolutely black-bagged and sent to Lousiana pending deportation, despite being a lawful permanent resident and not being accused of any criminal conduct [1]. His crime? Involvement in pro-Palestinian protests [2].
You are correct that, to the best of our knowledge, no pro-Palestinian protestor has thus far been deported to El Salvador.
The precedent here is what's important, meaning the government is arguing that they have the right to deport anyone they want for pretty much any reason and put them in a foreign prison indefinitely.
The legal justification for all this is an over 200 year old law called the Alien and Seditions Act and a declared state of emergency and invasion/incursion by a Venezuelan gang, something which has gotten at least some support from the Supreme Court [3].
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has basically come out and said that Khalil is being deported for his views. If these people don't have rights to free speech and due process then nobody does.
[1]: https://apnews.com/article/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-universit...
[2]: https://www.axios.com/2025/03/09/ice-arrests-palestinian-act...
[3]: https://www.livenowfox.com/news/supreme-court-lifts-order-bl...
Technically at the time of the arrest he was accused of criminal conduct, but not charged with criminal conduct. I believe he is still within the legally required timeline to be charged with criminal conduct, though he may be subject to deportation without such charges, we'll see.
Your second and third point is confused. The foundation for the government's belief they can deport Khalil is not the Alien Enemies Act (which is what I assume you mean, as there is no Alien and Seditions Act-the term "Alien and Seditions Acts" refers to four separate acts, one of which is the Alien Enemies Act), it's the Immigration and Nationality Act, the same basis Trump tried to use for Executive Order 13769. More specifically, I think they're using 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(C)(i).
That said, the government is absolutely using the Alien Enemies Act to round up people and send them to El Salvador.
>If these people don't have rights to free speech and due process then nobody does.
So this is an interesting legal question because non-citizens definitely do not have complete free speech protections, but the border of where their speech is protected vs unprotected is not entirely clear. It's not true that if they don't, nobody does - it is absolutely clear that citizens of the United States do have rights to free speech and due process. That has been established many times.
I'm aware that Khalil's case involves the McCarthyesque Immigration and Nationality Act because he's a lawful permanent resident where non-citizens are being processed under things like the Alien Enemies Act. Let's not get lost in the weeds here.
> So this is an interesting legal question because non-citizens definitely do not have complete free speech protections
All persons on American soil are entitled to constitutional protections [1].
Consider the implications if they're not entitled to due process, for example. The government could detain a citizen and deport them without a hearing to a foreign country and then, when told to return them by a court, claim they have no jurisdiction over that foreign country. The administration is actually using the last argument.
You might say "they can't deport citizens". They are in effect arguing they can and there's no remedy for you if you're mistakenly deported, possibly indefinitely detained.
That's what due process is for: to establish if there is a lawful basis for the deportation.
[1]: https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/aliens/
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You know, I was worried there for a second but then you said they were accused of something mildly bad, so I feel much better now.