Two weeks ago, Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, a Democrat from Chicago, took to X to blast the arrest of a pro-Hamas activist at Columbia University.
“Criminalizing dissent is part of the authoritarian playbook,” Ramirez posted, alluding to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who detained Syrian-born Mahmoud Khalil. “And it is being followed step by step by the Trump Administration.”
Khalil is a permanent resident with a green card. He played a leading role in organizing anti-Israel protests on campus. His supporters insist that his arrest and detention, in a Louisiana facility, violate his First Amendment rights. (Yale Law constitutional scholar Jed Rubenfeld has argued that, in fact, his case is more complicated than that.) “We should all be alarmed and standing opposed, because authoritarianism thrives when we surrender our right to dissent,” Ramirez said.