All Congress members swore oath to defend the right to speak freely and gather a petition for complaints. Why did so few sign this important letter?

Protesters are going to demand Mahmoud Khalila’s release on Folley on March 10, 2025 in New York.
(David Di Delgado / Getti Image)
Fourteen Democrats House sent persistent letter On Wednesday, Home Security Minister Christie Noah, demanding the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate of the Colombian University, who was arrested and detained on the basis of accusations arising from his propaganda town on Palestinian rights. A legal resident of the United States, who has a green map and marries US citizen, Khalil was arrested on Saturday from immigration and customs bodies, and detained in Louisiana, as part of the repressions that were browsing to President Trump. This poses a serious threat to the right person, so that anyone disagrees in the US, the members of the House say. “We were horrified by the recent illegal abduction, and now Mahmoud Khalil’s detention, a legal US -security resident (DHS), and we clearly demanded his immediate release from DHS guardianship,” explained their letter to the details of the arrest. ” “
This statement is important at the moment when the civil liberties of so many Americans are threatened with more and more authoritarian Trump administration. However, it is restless that only 14 representatives are approximately 3 percent of the 435 members of the House of Representatives – to sign a letter that advocated such major US Constitution premises.
Subscribers leaf“Representatives rashida tlaib of michigan, mark pocan and gwen moore of wisconsin, nydia valasquez of new york, delia ramirez of illinois, ilhan omar of minnesota Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Ayanna Pressley and James McGOvern of Massachusetts, Latefah Simon from California, Andre Carson of Indiana and Nicke Williams from Georgia – used the language to dissolve the arrest, and role the role. The president celebrated his arrest on Monday in a social position of truth, which announced: “After my previously signed executive orders, ICE was proudly detained and detained by Mahmoud Khalil, a radical foreign student-Hamas on the University University University. This is the first arrest of many.” Press -Secretary of DHS state that Khalil was arrested “in support of the executive orders of President Trump, which prohibits anti -Semitism.” However, when demonstrations against the Israeli military attack on gas flared up on the Colombian campus last spring, Khalil became a leading supporter of the ceasefire in Gaza, which abandoned the policy of the Israeli government and anti -Semitism – saying cnn In April “, of course, there is no place for anti -Semitism,” and saying, “As a Palestinian student, I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people is intertwined and go by my hand, and you cannot reach one without another.”
Incorrect characteristics khaliu administrations were disputed by students and teachers who know him and his lawyer Amy Grir, Who is arguing“He was chosen as an example to stifle a completely legitimate disagreement, violating the first amendment. The government’s goal is as transparent as illegal.”
Congress members who wrote the secretary were, if anything, more sharpened in their statements. They wrote:
As the Trump administration proudly recognized, he was directed solely for his activity and organization as a student leader and a Gaza Solidarity negotiator at the University of Columbia University, protesting against the Israeli government on the Palestinian people in Gaza and the Summer University. This illegal political justification was clearly stated by the administration activists, including the president himself. We must be extremely clear: this is an attempt to criminalize political protest and is a direct attack on freedom of expression in this country. The arrest of Khalila is an act of anti-Polesie racism aimed at silence the movement of Palestinian solidarity in this country, but it is a lawless abuse of power and political repression is a threat to all Americans. President Trump threatened that “this is the first arrest of many” and, if not conducted, this authoritarian game book would apply to any counteraction to his undemocratic agenda. Mahmoud Khalil must be released from DHS care immediately. He is a political prisoner, incorrectly and illegally detained, who deserves to be at home in New York, preparing for the birth of his first child. Universities across the country must protect their students from this vile attack on free opinion and expression, and DHS should immediately refrain from any further illegal arrests aimed at a constitutional protected speech and activity.
The members of the House who signed the letter are not the only members of the Congress who spoke out. Senator Dick Durbin, a member of the Senate Bodies Committee, has accepted free khalila and declared“,”, The detention of a recent student for the fact that he is engaged in the right to free speech is what we expected from Russia – not America. “Senator Chris Murphy, D -Connecticut, made a stunning denunciation of arrest, saying:” If our new reality is that the president may disappear. America. Today it is Mahmoud Khalil. Tomorrow I am or you. ”US representative Alexandria Okosio Cartes (D-NY) also expressed prevention“If a federal government may disappear by a legal US resident for no reason and a warrant, then they may disappear as well.” US spokesman Jerry Nadler, New York Democrat, who previously headed the House of Representatives Committee and is the chairman of the Congress -Jewish Caus, speak“Without the guaranteed arrest of any legal permanent resident, it would seem solely from his speech – this is the cooling action of McCartyesque in response to the exercise of the first amendment to free speech.” And US spokesman Jamie Raskin, Democrat Maryland, who is now a member of the ranking committee on the judiciary, argue“Mahmoud Khalila’s detention is padded directly from an authoritarian book. His arrest establishes an extremely dangerous and cold precedent from an administration that holds fear and intimidation as weapons to dissolve political disagreement. All Americans, including those who categorically disagree with the Halle, should be indignant.”
However, Durbin, AOC, Murphy, Nadler, Raskin and Members of the House who signed the letter on Tuesday remain the experience in Congress. Most of the Democrats in the congress were silent or said the minority leader of the House of Representatives JeffRis (d-ny) that they “ monitoring”The situation.
The best Republicans, resting from a recent preaching about the importance of freedom of speech, noted the arrest. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson went so far to say “This guy is apparently an inspirer” and then P circle in the Trumpian language“If you are on a student visa and you are in America, and you are a newcomer to a young terrorist who wants to hunt on your Jewish classmates, you go home. We’re going to arrest your tail and we’re going to send you home where you belong.”
The whole point is that Congress members do not swear to protect the illegal actions initiated by guerrilla allies in the White House. They also do not promise to ignore attacks on the right to disagree. Congress members swore an oath “support and defend the Constitution of the United States”, and “carry true faith and loyalty” to this promise. By doing this, they are obliged to defend basic freedoms – not to allow the arrest, detention and deportation of students who dare to exercise rights set out in the first amendment to the Constitution, which clearly defends their freedom of expression and the right to assemble and petition for grievances.
The hard and chaotic second term Donald Trump is just beginning. In the first month, Trump’s office and his Like -Elon Musk (or this is the opposite?) Proved that nothing is safe from sacrifice at the altar without checking strength and wealth.
Only reliable independent journalism can cut the noise and offer a clear report and analysis based on principle and conscience. Thats what Nation I did 160 years, and that’s what we do now.
Our independent journalism is not Let the injustice go unnoticed or unopposed – and we will give up hope for a better world. Our Writers, editors and checks are ruthlessly working to inform you about you if so much media does not do this of credulity, fear and loyalty.
Nation saw unprecedented times earlier. We draw the strength and recommendations from our history of fundamental progressive journalism during the crisis, and we strive to continue this heritage today.
We strive to raise $ 25,000 during our spring fundraising campaign to ensure that we have resources to expose oligarchs and income trying to rob our republic. Stand behind bold independent journalism and donate to support Nation Today.
Further,
Katrina Vanden Hievel
Editorial director and publisher, A Nation