New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has weighed into a volatile immigration and free-speech fight, voicing public support for pro-Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil after a federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume efforts to deport him.

“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression; it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” Mamdani wrote on X. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free — and must remain free.”

The statement followed a court ruling Tuesday that lifted a block on the administration’s deportation push, reviving a case that has become a flashpoint in the broader national debate over campus activism, antisemitism and the limits of protected political speech.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued that Khalil, an Algerian national and U.S. permanent resident, should be removed from the country on the grounds that his continued presence undermines U.S. efforts to combat antisemitism globally and protect Jewish students from harassment and violence on American campuses.

Khalil, who graduated from Columbia University last spring, was affiliated with Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a student coalition that has drawn sharp scrutiny from lawmakers and Jewish organizations. The group has endorsed violence, called for “the total eradication of Western civilization,” praised the October 7 Hamas attack, promoted U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, distributed Hamas propaganda on campus and supported an activist imprisoned for assaulting Jewish students.

Khalil has since sought to distance himself from some of that rhetoric, saying he condemns the targeting of civilians, including during the October 7 attack. Federal officials, however, argue that his affiliations and activism place him squarely within a movement that crosses from protected speech into support for extremist causes.

The socialist Mamdani was an outspoken supporter of Khalil during the city’s recent mayoral race and has long aligned himself with pro-Palestinian activism. Jewish groups and centrist Democrats have accused Mamdani of tolerating and legitimizing antisemitic rhetoric and violent symbolism within his political coalition.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)