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President Trump started right when he proclaimed earlier that he would weaponize a 1952 law to deport foreign students who disrupted campus activities nationwide, among other offences. However, he has repeatedly blundered in executing this mission.

Cracking down on the anti-Israel mob is important to me. It is among the few Trump policies that has my support. I voted against Trump and I hope that America, not to mention the rest of the world, survives the next four years.

However, I am just as distraught with pro-Palestinian activists who trample upon our criminal laws as they trample upon our campus lawns. They have more than ample opportunity to protest legally, but they insist on attacking campus employees, seizing university buildings, blocking bridges and highways and harassing Jewish students – all criminal offences.

U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a Republican representing Pennsylvania, told Jewish Insider, ”I think you can draw a line that’s not too hard to follow from what was happening in Gaza and the people funding, to the agitation, the agitators on campus. That thinking allowed me to take a very hard line on it.”

After meeting with Jewish students at the University of Pennsylvania, McCormick added, “The maddening thing about it was that it (anti-Israel protests) was all in violation of the law and campus policy. This was not like a college president wringing their hands saying, what’s the right thing to do? The actual regulation on campus, the law in the city of Philadelphia was very clear that this was in violation, but yet they didn’t enforce it.”

Trump contends that he launched this drive to reduce antisemitism, and critics charge that he is exploiting the Jewish community to meet his political ends.

Sure he is exploiting American Jews, but I also believe he is serious in helping Jews like myself and protecting Israel. Jewish friends of his have long advised him about Jewish and Israeli issues, and I think he consistently takes it to heart.

Deterrence is one of the strongest weapons to reduce illegal conduct. Police should be charging as many offenders as possible, and foreign students who break the law should be vulnerable to deportation. I was pleased when Trump announced his deportation policy and I have been hopeful that he follows through on one issue that is important to me.

Since Trump’s people arrested Mahmoud Khalil, the Algerian citizen’s supporters have defined the agenda. They convinced the nation that Trump plans to deport him because he dares to support the Palestinians. They have framed it as a free speech issue and ignored the possibility that Khalil and others might have gone too far.

The worst outcome of Trump’s new approach has been to enmesh deportation of anti-Israel activists with deportation in general. The treatment of migrants overall is a deep concern, but the anti-Israel aspect must be treated separately. Critics of Israel have gone beyond freedom of speech by committing crimes. Why should foreigners like that be allowed to remain here?

Trump has ignored due process in carrying this out. He sent Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk halfway across the country to the federal detention centre in Jena, La., from, respectively, New York City and a Boston suburb. Khalil’s attorney scrambled to find out what happened to him after he was taken from his home near Columbia University, where he was a graduate student and holds a green card allowing for permanent residency. Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement initially thought he only had a student visa. He is married to an American citizen who could deliver their first child by the time this article appears.

The president was accused of sending Khalil, Ozturk and others to Jena because he hopes the federal court of appeals for that region will be amenable to Trump’s legal arguments. This appeals court is considered the most conservative in the nation. If he has a credible case, he should not need to shop for judges.

These people should have been held close to where they live. If Trump has a case, what difference does it make where Khalil or Ozturk are detained?

So far, the cases for Khalil and Ozturk sound weak. Ozturk co-wrote an op-ed to protest Israel’s military response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which the terrorist group murdered 1,200 Israelis. Khalil was accused of distributing or facilitating the distribution of pro-Hamas materials. Trump’s approach is shaky and could be dismissed by courts located in cities close to Khalil and Ozturk’s residencies.

What is far likelier to work is a case accompanied by strong evidence. A detainee charged and convicted of committing a criminal offence would probably end up being deported.

Trump’s efforts were undermined from the start by the police response to anti-Israel protests because charges levelled for criminal offences were limited.

ICE might be able to identify foreign students who broke the law by checking police records during protest periods, recording the names of suspects and cross-checking them with lists of foreign students.

The president can gather evidence that detainees committed acts that constitute crimes. Khalid has not been charged with any crimes, but that does not mean he did not commit any offences. Just by virtue of being a spokesman and negotiator, as he describes it, raises questions of whether he should have been prosecuted. His self-proclaimed status as a spokesman and negotiator are leadership positions, which means he should have been actively attempting to stop the criminal conduct of followers who built illegal encampments and seized Columbia’s Hamilton Hall.

If Khalid had a role in planning or participating in such activities, the university can seek witnesses who got caught violating campus rules.

If Khalid did nothing that amounts to criminal activity, I hope he enjoys a lifelong stay in America. If the government can prove he did, I do not look forward to hearing him gripe about isolation from his wife and child. Maybe he should have thought about that possibility last year. To paraphrase Golda Meir, maybe he loves harming Jews and Israel more than he loves being available to support his wife and first child.