Pro-Hamas activist’s deportation not a 'free speech' matter and law is on Trump’s side: experts
FOX NewsMAR 25
Judge Frees Columbia Pro-Palestine Protester Mahdawi on Bail
Above: U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) speaks during a rally held by Congress members in support of detained Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi in front of the State Department on April 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C., U.S. Image copyright: Kayla Bartkowski/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Trump's focus on deporting anti-Israel protesters is striking. To the surprise of many, the people being targeted aren't illegal immigrants but student visa holders and, even more alarming, legal permanent residents. From a legal perspective, these tactics are flimsy and anti-free speech, and from a basic national interest perspective, they're aimed at protecting Israeli foreign policy, not Americans.
Republican narrative
Those claiming this is about free speech do not understand what these student groups — and the anti-Israel movement more broadly — are really up to. Under the guise of peaceful anti-war protests, these men and women are garnering support not for peace but for brutal violence, as seen on countless college campuses and in the streets. The government has every right to remove foreign nationals who are calling for violence against their host country.