The end of free speech in the United States? An arrest to discourage dissent
The purpose is to show us all that it is dangerous to disagree with our president. Let me repeat that. The purpose of arresting and trying Khalil is to show that it is dangerous to disagree with our president.
(This piece first appeared in Fox Cities Progressive)
The recent arrest of Mahmoud Khalil should make you very angry and very afraid because it is a direct assault on your right to free speech. In case you think that I am exaggerating, read on. Here is a little background on the case.
Khalil is a legal resident of the United States with a green card. He was a graduate student at Columbia University and a leader of the demonstrations against Israel's invasion of Gaza. He was arrested under a 1952 law that says that an “alien whose presence or activities in the United States the secretary of state has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.” After his arrest in New York, he was shipped to a prison camp in Louisiana.
Under the 1952 statute, the government does not have to say that Khalil has committed a crime, and in fact, he has not been accused of a crime. The government has only said that flyers bearing the logo of Hamas were distributed at a protest rally of which Khalil was a leader. In effect, Khalil has been arrested and threatened with deportation because he is believed by the secretary of state to espouse views that our president doesn't like. The courts may well prevent Khalil from being deported, but that will not matter to the Trump administration because the purpose of arresting and trying Khalil is not merely to deport him. The purpose is to show us all that it is dangerous to disagree with our president. Let me repeat that. The purpose of arresting and trying Khalil is to show that it is dangerous to disagree with our president.
The Case Was Chosen Carefully
The administration chose its case carefully. Khalil is Palestinian by birth, and the demonstrations he led were in opposition to the Israeli invasion of Gaza. There are deep divisions of opinion among Americans over the invasion. Many Jews, in particular, view any criticism of Israel as antisemitic, and many Christians also have strong reasons for supporting Israel. The Trump administration believes that many people will support the arrest and deportation of Khalil because of their feelings about the invasion of Gaza and will ignore the issues of free speech that Khalil’s arrest raises.
A Method For Suppressing Dissent
It would be a grave error to ignore those issues. What is being done to Khalil is a trial run for a method of suppressing all kinds of dissent in the United States. It is a method for eliminating freedom of speech for all of us and not just for Khalil or for Palestinians. The method is not new. A variant of it was used by HUAC and by Senator Joseph McCarthy Here is how it works.
The Trump administration has threatened to deport Khalil. A district court may declare that Khalil cannot be deported because he has committed no crime, but the Trump administration won’t care. It will appeal the case up though the court system, and that will enmesh Khalil for years in an expensive and time-consuming defense. Even if the administration ultimately loses the legal case, it will have proved that it can make protests against its policies extremely expensive.
The Method Can Be Used Against American Citizens
The method can be used not only against immigrants but also against any American citizen. It can be used against you or me. The government can bring a case against an American citizen under any law of its choosing and force the citizen to defend him/herself at great expense. It won’t matter that the case is bogus or that there is no evidence to support the accusation brought against the citizen because again, the goal is not to obtain a conviction. The goal is to frighten all of us into keeping silent, and that goal will be attained. The mere threat of such a suit will be enough to stifle most dissent. To avoid even the remote possibility of being sued by the government, most people will choose to be silent. Moreover, the method described here will not be used alone. Its effect will be magnified when it is used in combination with the institutionally focused methods described in last week's post, and the results will be devastating for free speech in the United States.
The Method Can Suppress Any Kind of Activism
The threat of lawsuits can also be used to prevent citizens from promoting causes or engaging in activities that the president opposes. A recent article in The New Republic tells us that, "The FBI is moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration." The groups are being accused of defrauding the United States by accepting the grants, and here again, the government can lose in court and still attain its objective, which is to make American citizens afraid to espouse causes or promote ideas that are opposed by the president.
Resist While You Still Can
So, don't kid yourself. Khalil's case is not just about him. It is not about American policy in the Middle East or even about the rights of immigrants. It is about you. It is about all of us. It is about our freedom to speak out. If you care at all about preserving your freedom, you will resist with all of your strength while you still can. Soon, it may be too late.
