Mahmoud Khalil is a law-abiding permanent resident of the US, but the Trump administration is prosecuting him for his political opinions using a law that was originally aimed at Communists.
The news, broken today by the Washington Post, transforms what was until now a story about free speech and advocacy for Palestine into a much broader episode of class struggle.
In their efforts to deport Khalil, the Trump administration has appealed to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Enacted in 1952, the bill restricted immigration based on race and nationality quotas — but it also contained three crucial provisions:
- Section 212(a)(3)(d) declared inadmissible and ineligible for visas “any immigrant who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party”;
- Section 241(a)(6)(C) declared eligible for deportation any aliens who “are members of or affiliated with . . . the Communist or any other totalitarian party of any State of the United States, [or] of any foreign state” or “who write or publish, or cause to be written or published, or knowingly circulate . . . the economic, international, and governmental doctrines of world communism”; and
- Section 313(a)(2) prohibited naturalizing as a citizen of the US anyone who “is a member of or affiliated with . . . the Communist or any other totalitarian party of any State of the United States, [or] of any foreign state.”
Though liberal advocates of immigration reform fought against the bill’s passage, their concern was mostly with its quota system. In a struggle with more than a passing resemblance to fights over immigration today, liberals wanted a more open policy while the bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Patrick McCarran, was worried about the effect that “undesirables” would have on the country. Ironically, given the accusations of antisemitism leveled at Khalil, McCarran was himself significantly driven by anxiety about supposed…
Auteur: Carl Beijer
