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I was a mafia and terrorism prosecutor before I actually started playing on television. In that trend, we need to think about the first amendment, particularly the rights of the Free Speech and Freedom Association, as the Trump administration pursues a valuable goal of ousting foreign terrorist supporters from our country.
So, before I talk about Mahmoud Khalil, I want to talk about Tom Hagen as there is a risk of going even further with myself.
Filmbuff instantly remembers Hagen (drawn by Robert Duval) as a record of the Corleone family of iconic Godfather films of the early '70s (an adaptation from a Mario Puzo novel). In his perhaps his most memorable vignette, Hagen said he was a “mediator” and intervening on behalf of famous Hollywood producers Jack Waltz and Don Corleone.
Trump vowed that anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil was “the first arrest of many.”
Remember: Hagen tries to convince Walz that bad things are likely to happen if he doesn't give Don't the coveted role in the expected film. Certainly, after spurring Hagen to become a “mediator”, the producer quickly wakes up and finds the severed head of his precious racehorse under his much-pervasive satin sheet. Thus, receiving his heart right, Walz gives Godson a part of it.
We might say that Hagen was there to “reason” with Walz. But in the law we have a different word for it: horror. It's just like assault, it's a crime. In court, Tom Hagen will not have the defense that he simply spoke to Walz that he enjoys the right to free expression on behalf of Corleone, whom he was free to ties with.
We know this intuitively, and it is the bedrock principle of criminal law. The First Amendment prevents the government from criminalizing speech itself. It's not a crime of speaking. It prevents the government from criminalizing mere gatherings of two or more people – mere associations are not crimes.
Nevertheless, if a person is credibly accused of crimes like terror, there is no legal ban on using speech as evidence of those crimes. And if a person is credibly accused of a conspiracy, there is no legal bar for presenting the association of the conspirators to each other as evidence that they are co-participants in a criminal agreement.
Remember that. We have already heard Twaddle about the first revision from the Syrian-born former Columbia University student, Halil's apologist. He argues Palestinian legacy and claims that the Trump administration is trying to deport him for his role in the campus uprising promoted by support for Hamas, which has been formally designated as a terrorist organisation under US law for nearly three decades.
In short, this is how defenses look like. Halil is a legal permanent resident alien (LPR) that is a green card holder. As a matter of law, it makes him an American person who approximates the rights of American citizens. Ergo, he cannot be legally expelled from the United States for constitutionally protected conduct. His relationship with other pro-Hamas student agitators and their speech as “mediators” of interaction with the Colombian regime. Now there are many legal flaws in this defense.I outlined them in this national review essay). LPR rights are similar to those of American citizens, but not identical. LPR is still an alien. Federal immigration laws long term conditions for aliens to be able to deport criminal conduct, support for terrorists and national security concerns. This is something that US citizens can't do.
But I want to question the fundamental premise that Halil's actions are nothing more than constitutionally protected speeches and relevances that Americans face no legal consequences.
It seems they understand this through organized crime cases. For my years indicting them, I have never heard advocate claiming that when he said a button to “slap that man,” he was simply exercising his right to free speech.
However, when I began a terrorism incident after the World Trade Centre was bombed in 1993, I realized that jihadists had a huge debate.
Don't be fooled.
Halil is not subject to deportation as he is either Muslim or deeply opposes Israel's existence as a Jewish state. His political speech and relationship with like-minded students (whether Muslim or non-Muslim) is not a point, even if he and his supporters make you believe that you are the only point.
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When he “mediated” on behalf of campus agitators – he set up illegal camps that blocked other students from studying and caring for normal campus life, and was not engaged in political speeches to the illegally occupied and destroyed university buildings. He had pressured the university to concede to the demands of agitators' pro-Hama, gaining the understanding that worse damage would occur on campus if the administration did not surrender.
It's not a political speech. That's forced. American citizens who engage in such actions will not have First Amendment defense. They will likely face prosecution – and in fact, dozens of agitators will be arrested in connection with these activities and could still face other legal consequences.
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Halil presents no deep constitutional controversy. His argument concerns the authority of the government responsible for the safety of citizens in order to deport foreigners and even LPRs that risk us. That authority is engraved in the Constitution, just like the immigration and criminal laws of the United States.
Years ago, I learned that jihadists and their supporters want what they want after they began to conquer the glory of our constitution (the same constitution as Hamas destroys with their heartbeat), and we all check our common sense at the door. Let's not do that.
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