Mahmoud Khalil Writes From Prison: “Democracy for Some Is No Democracy at All”

In a letter from an immigrant detention center in Louisiana, pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil has pleaded for his case to spur the public into action against the rapid erosion of civil liberties in the U.S., warning of dire consequences if the crackdown on pro-Palestine activists continues.

“It’s 3 a.m. as I lie sleepless on a bunk bed in Jena, Louisiana, far from my wife, Noor, who will give birth to our baby in two weeks,” wrote Khalil in the letter, published by The Washington Post on Thursday.

The recent Columbia graduate went on to recall sitting in court last week when a Louisiana immigration judge ruled that he could be deported by the Trump administration over his participation in protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

That day, he said, he had reflected on the concepts of liberty and justice that the U.S. supposedly prides itself on, now lying in sharp contrast with the presidential administration’s deportation raid in neighborhoods across the country.

“I think about the breakneck speed with which my case was heard and decided, running roughshod over due process. On the flip side, I think about those I am locked up with, many of whom have been languishing for months or years waiting for their ‘due process,’” he said. “Why should protesting Israel’s indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians result in the erosion of my constitutional rights?”

Khalil points out that the U.S. has long maintained an exception to free speech rights when it comes to pro-Palestine speech — and that the White House’s severe crackdown on activists like Khalil is a show that the administration is “afraid” of pro-Palestine speech becoming widespread.

The activist concludes the letter with a call to action, pleading with the public to wake up to the danger facing their civil rights, as evidenced by the attempted deportation of people like him.

“I write this letter as the sun rises, hoping that the suspension of my rights will raise alarm bells that yours are already in jeopardy. I hope it will inspire your outrage that the most basic human instinct, to protest shameless massacre, is being repressed by obscure laws, racist propaganda and a state terrified of an awakened public,” Khalil said.

“I hope this writing will startle you into understanding that a democracy for some — a democracy of convenience — is no democracy at all. I hope it will shake you into acting before it is too late,” he wrote.

The administration is deporting Khalil for nothing more than his beliefs, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio explicitly admitted in a memo turned over as evidence in his case.

The administration is also targeting numerous other pro-Palestine activists for similarly scant reasons. An immigration judge has denied bond for Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, deeming her a “flight risk” over a pro-Palestine op-ed she co-wrote last year, demanding that the university “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and divest from Israel.

“The government’s entire case against Rümeysa is based on the same one-paragraph memo from the State Department to ICE that just points back to Rümeysa’s op-ed,” one of her attorneys said in a statement.