The First Amendment is under siege, but you wouldn’t know it from the near silence surrounding the latest assault on free speech. In Donald Trump’s America, expressing support for Palestine has become grounds for detention, deportation, and the revocation of legal status. Yet, the response from the media and political establishment has been muted—if not entirely absent.
On March 8, 2025, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and recent Columbia University graduate, was arrested at his university-owned residence by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents. His crime? Speaking out. DHS agents reportedly informed Khalil that his green card had been revoked, making him the first known Palestinian student detained under the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism.
This move comes after Trump himself declared in early March that he would strip federal funding from universities that permit what he calls “illegal protests.” The warning was clear: Speak out, and there will be consequences. The silence that has followed Khalil’s arrest is perhaps even more alarming than the arrest itself. A man has been taken from his home, his legal status revoked, his rights ignored—and yet, where is the outcry?
It is no secret that Trump has long sought to suppress political opposition, particularly on college campuses. His threats of expulsion, imprisonment, and deportation for student protesters are now turning into real-world consequences. Khalil’s arrest is just the beginning. The question is: Who will be next?
Civil rights groups have raised concerns, but their voices are being drowned out by the apathy—or complicity—of a broader political and media establishment unwilling to confront the administration’s growing authoritarian tendencies. The First Amendment does not protect only the speech we like—it exists to safeguard all speech, especially dissent. Yet, as Khalil sits in detention, the supposed defenders of free expression remain largely silent.
This is not just an attack on one man. It is an attack on the fundamental rights of every person in this country. If a legal resident can have his status revoked and be detained for engaging in activism, what does that mean for the rest of us? How long before citizenship itself is treated as conditional, dependent on silence and obedience?
The First Amendment is not taken from us all at once—it erodes in moments like these, as we look away, as we let the powerful dictate who can speak and who cannot. The silence must end. If we do nothing, we are not just witnessing the death of free speech—we are complicit in it.
