It Was All Hanging By A Thread

Americans' Committment To Freedom Was At The Brink. Trump Pushed Us Over

Former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian, is in a deportation hearing simply because the Trump Administration thinks his opinions on the Israel-Gaza War are bad.

On July 4, 2016, I was at a barbecue at a neighbor’s house. Surrounded by patriotic regalia and Lee Greenwood blasting out of the stereo behind the pool bar, the upcoming election loomed large. A cold war was brewing between the pro-Trump attendees and those who would rather eat glass than vote for the man who was the epitome of sleaze for New Yorkers of their generation. Politics was a conversation banished to quiet exchanges in the corners of the backyard.

Despite the awkward divide, immigration was the one topic without much disagreement. While liberals took issue with much of Trump’s rhetoric and some of his more outlandish plans, everyone seemed to agree that he had a point on the issue. There was a consensus that immigrants must act as if they are proud to be here and show overt gratitude and deference to American culture and its citizens – and that the current crop of immigrants was doing none of that.

I’ve been thinking about that Fourth of July exchange since the arrest and deportation of former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian in America on a student visa whom the Trump administration is deporting solely due to his opinions on the Israel- Gaza War. The move is just one of many ways Trump is destroying the institutions and democratic way of governance that protected the vulnerable from the reactionary sentiments of the American people.

On that steamy Fourth of July, there were nods and affirmations toward the argument that immigrants must show appreciation by meeting certain expectations: learning English, dropping some of their overtly public cultural customs—like wearing hijabs—and refraining from criticizing America or its allies, including Israel. American citizens can do those things, but immigrants cannot. One of my neighbors, herself an immigrant from Colombia, even agreed that her “people” were not making it easy for Latinos.