By: Frank Corder, Magnolia Tribune
Congressman Bennie Thompson (Photo from Thompson’s X)
Mississippi’s 2nd District Congressman Bennie Thompson was part of a group of Democratic lawmakers who traveled to Louisiana last week to meet with Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil, two students who have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and transported to Louisiana while they await further legal proceedings.
Thompson was joined by U.S. Senator Edward Markey (MA), Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (MA), Congressman Jim McGovern (MA), and Congressman Troy Carter (LA) as well as members of the national ACLU and ACLU Louisiana.
The Democrats say the arrest of the two detainees is unconstitutional, claiming they are being punished in “retaliation for their protected speech.”
Congressman Thompson said on MSNBC last week that if the individuals have violated the law, “tell them what the violations are, give them their day in court, and why ship them over a thousand miles away.”
“They have not been formally charged with anything, yet they’re being held in custody,” Thompson said. “Americans are better than this.”
“It’s no secret that the detentions of Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil are part of an alarming trend by the Trump administration: abduct students and secret them away to remote prisons in jurisdictions where the Administration expects to receive favorable court rulings through its forum shopping,” Senator Markey said.
Öztürk is a Tufts University doctoral student on a student visa while Khalil, a green card holder, is a pro-Palestinian student activist at Columbia University. The two were arrested in March and later transferred to the ICE holding facility in Louisiana.
Öztürk was among the hundreds to have their visas revoked by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio over what the State Department says are pro-Hamas, antisemitic activities on college campuses.
Öztürk was a co-author of an op-ed criticizing the school’s response to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The State Department argues that her detention and deportation should stand using the Immigration and Nationality Act.
As for Khalil, a memo from Rubio released by the Columbia student’s counsel accuses Khalil of participating in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities.” Rubio later said he revoked Khalil’s green card.
The State Department says the two individuals and others being held by ICE in similar cases will have an adverse consequence on foreign policy should they be allowed to remain in the U.S.
The ICE actions against these two, as well as others, come after President Donald Trump (R) ordered a vigorous response to combat antisemitism across the federal government while tamping down on such rhetoric on college campuses, especially those receiving tax dollars.
As of Monday, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that a federal three-judge panel would hear the case against Öztürk on May 6.
Then on Tuesday, a New Jersey federal judge decided he would retain jurisdiction over Khalil’s case after a New York judge moved it to New Jersey last month.