Ann Coulter Challenges Trump Admin’s Arrest of Columbia Protester: ‘Isn’t This a Violation of the First Amendment?’

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Ann Coulter is to the right of many people on immigration, leading her on occasion to publicly spar with President Donald Trump on the issue — as she did in a tweet Monday, calling out the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil by ICE agents.

Khalil, a former Columbia student who was a leader of the pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year, was arrested over the weekend. His attorney, Amy Greer, said to the Associated Press that she had spoken with one of the ICE agents over the phone during her client’s arrest and they told her they were carrying out State Department orders to cancel Khalil’s student visa. Greer said she informed them he was a permanent U.S. resident and the agent replied that they would be revoking his green card instead.

A tweet by the official Department of Homeland Security account said that the arrest was made “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism” and accused Khalil of having “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”

Coulter, who wrote a book in 2015 titled ¡Adios America! The Left’s Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole and lamented the “browning of America” in on-the-record interviews, weighed in on Khalil’s case in a tweet on Monday.

Screenshot via X.

“There’s almost no one I don’t want to deport,” she wrote, “but, unless they’ve committed a crime, isn’t this a violation of the first amendment?”

Coulter’s take was shared by prominent free speech advocates. Patrick Jaicomo, a civil rights litigator at the Institute for Justice, shared Coulter’s tweet with the comment, “Ann’s question stands” and posted an article about Khalil from the libertarian website Reason.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) tweeted a letter sent to DHS, the Department of Justice, ICE, and the State Department “requesting answers to the questions surrounding Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and detention.” In the tweet, FIRE added:

The government hasn’t stated the legal basis for its actions, and it has put out statements suggesting Mr. Khalil is being targeted because of his constitutionally protected speech.

This is America. The administration must not use immigration enforcement to punish and filter out ideas disfavored by the government or deny due process to anyone facing arrest and detention.

The government must also be transparent about the basis for its actions to avoid chilling protected speech.

To be clear, demonstrations on Columbia’s campus since Oct. 7, 2023, have included both constitutionally protected speech and unlawful conduct. But the government has not clarified the factual or legal basis for Mr. Khalil’s arrest.

The lack of clarity is chilling protected expression, as other permanent residents cannot know whether their lawful speech could be deemed to “align” with a terrorist organization and jeopardize their immigration status.

FIRE’s letter demands answers:

➡️ What was the specific legal and factual basis for Mr. Khalil’s arrest on March 8?

➡️ What is the specific legal and factual basis for Mr. Khalil’s detention?

➡️ What is the specific legal and factual basis on which the government is seeking revocation of Mr. Khalil’s green card?

➡️ Will Mr. Khalil be afforded the due process protections required by U.S. law?

➡️ Is it the government’s intention to seek the revocation of lawful immigration status on the basis of speech protected by the First Amendment?

FIRE has requested a response tomorrow, March 11th.