Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has broken his silence about Mahmoud Khalil, the Syrian-born pro-Hamas activist who could be set for deportation, with a hearing scheduled for today. Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents over the weekend, and has led pro-Hamas activity at Columbia University, as well as participated in such activity at its sister school of Barnard College. Many on the left, including Senate Judiciary Democrats, have rallied to his cause, though Schumer was silent for some time.
Free Mahmoud Khalil. pic.twitter.com/o9AkeXaYyh
— Senate Judiciary Democrats 🇺🇸 (🦋 now on bsky) (@JudiciaryDems) March 10, 2025
While the Senate Judiciary Democrats X account was out with a post, several in fact, on Monday afternoon, it took Schumer until nearly 24 hours later, after they had put out their most attention-getting one, for him to push out his own.
Schumer began in part by mentioning that Khalil's wife, an American citizen, is 8-months pregnant. Many of Khalil's other defenders have pointed to this as well.
"While he may well be in violation of various campus rules regarding how the protests were conducted last year, that is a matter for the university to pursue, and I have encouraged them to be much more robust in how they combat antisemitism and maintain a harassment-free campus that protects the safety and security of Jewish and other students," Schumer went on to claim, which is where such a defense gets even trickier. Columbia has failed in being able to stand up to these pro-Hamas terrorist sympathizers, given that such takeovers on campus and the campus of their sister school keep happening. President Donald Trump himself warned that schools allowing for illegal protests could lose funding, as well as that foreign-born agitators would be deported. Last Friday, the Trump administration canceled $400 million in grants for Columbia.
"The Trump administration’s DHS must articulate any criminal charges or facts that would justify his detention or the initiation of deportation proceedings against him. If the administration cannot prove he has violated any criminal law to justify taking this severe action and is doing it for the opinions he has expressed, then that is wrong, they are violating the First Amendment protections we all enjoy and should drop their wrongheaded action," Schumer continued, as if this were merely about "First Amendment protections."
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I abhor many of the opinions and policies that Mahmoud Khalil holds and supports, and have made my criticism of the antisemitic actions at Columbia loudly known. Mr. Khalil is also legal permanent resident here, and his wife, who is 8-months pregnant, is an American citizen.…
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 11, 2025
In the less than 24 hours since such a post from Schumer has been up, he's been ratioed with close to 3,500 replies, and less than 2,000 likes. Many have also chimed in with quoted reposts.
When it comes to Schumer's reported response to the incessant pro-Hamas activity at Columbia, which again, Khalil was involved in leading, The New York Post put out a rather damning report late last year.
"and have made my criticism of the antisemitic actions at Columbia loudly known." You are a despicable liar. https://t.co/Lx6Ho3SsHD
— David Bernstein (@ProfDBernstein) March 12, 2025
Chuck Schumer:
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 12, 2025
- Refused to meet with Jewish students
- Refused to bring the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act to the Senate floor
- Told Columbia to "ignore" efforts to combat antisemitism
- Siding with a pro-terror violent Syrian national https://t.co/R40BMHbCaQ
As the report mentioned:
The GOP-led House Education and Workforce Committee, in a 325-page report, contended the New York Democrat advised then-university president Minouche Shafik that the school would be spared any scrutiny by Democrats, explaining that the elite university’s “political problems are really only among Republicans.”
His staff then encouraged Columbia administrators that the “best strategy is to keep heads down,” according to the report.
“The self-proclaimed protector of the Jewish people. Chuckey Schumer is nothing but a kapo traitor. He should be ashamed of himself,” said former Brooklyn state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat-turned-Republican who heads the group Americans Against Antisemitism.
“He is a traitor to America. He is a traitor to the Jewish people. Shame on him! This is what the Democratic Party has become.”
...
A spokesman for Schumer insisted the report was “flat-out false.”
“Sen. Schumer regularly and forcefully condemned antisemitic acts at Columbia and elsewhere saying ‘when protests shift to antisemitism, verbal abuse, intimidation, or glorification of Oct. 7 violence against Jewish people, that crosses the line.’ He conveyed this point publicly and to administrators privately,” Angelo Roefaro told The Post Thursday night.
“It’s worthy to note here that Republicans are citing words from someone who is not Chuck Schumer. That is called hearsay,” he added.
According to the report, Columbia trustees ridiculed the committee for reviewing their oversight of the violence and prejudice on campus and texted about how they hoped Democrats would take control of Congress after Shafik’s discussion with Schumer.
In texts with Board of Trustees co-chairs David Greenwald and Claire Shipman in January, Shafik described Schumer as “very positive and supportive (and quite the storyteller).”
University leadership then felt emboldened to avoid any kind of meeting with Republicans after Schumer and his staff indicated that a forum with the political party wasn’t necessary, the report states.
Greenwald then echoed Schumer’s advice, writing: “If we are keeping our head down, maybe we shouldn’t meet with Republicans.”
A search of Schumer's official account showed that the senator barely discussed Columbia over social media, other than the briefest of statements, as we covered at the time.
"College campuses must be places of learning and discussion. Every American has a right to protest, but when protests shift to antisemitism, verbal abuse, intimidation, or glorification of Oct. 7 violence against Jewish people, that crosses the line. Campuses must remain safe for all students," read Schumer's brief statement last April, when a pro-Hamas encampment was in full swing.
The statement I issued yesterday on the anti-Israel protests at Columbia University:https://t.co/GqJipi90lN pic.twitter.com/lHTu9Mn8ng
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 22, 2024
Not long after the October 7, 2023, attack that Hamas launched against Israel, Schumer, then the majority leader, took to the Senate floor to decry antisemitism, particularly from the left. A few months later, however, he stood on the Senate floor again, this time to call for Israel to hold new elections and oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That speech was not well received, in the United States or in Israel.
Whether as the majority or minority leader, Schumer has also whipped up his fellow Democrats to vote against Israel, including on aid bills, as well as voting against sanctioning the International Criminal Court (ICC), which had put out an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. Trump ended up signing an executive order last month that sanctioned the ICC.
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