Greater than two dozen elected officers, together with mayoral candidates Brad Lander and Zohran Mamdani, are sending a letter to Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem demanding Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia College scholar detained by ICE, be launched.
The letter, being despatched Tuesday, additionally known as on Columbia to cease “any and all” cooperation with immigration officers and for President Trump’s administration to take away ICE and DHS from campuses.
“The treatment of Mahmoud Khalil by the Department of Homeland Security is not only inhumane, it is a blatant violation of his legal rights,” the letter reads. “He has been separated illegally from his pregnant wife, who is a United States citizen, and detained without due process thousands of miles from home. We see these actions by the Trump administration for what they are—a flagrantly unconstitutional attempt to suppress free speech and incite fear.”
A number of different 2025 mayoral candidates, together with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Brooklyn State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, Queens State Sen. Jessica Ramos and ex-Comptroller Scott Stringer, have individually spoken out in opposition to Khalil’s detention. They aren’t amongst these signing the letter.
“ICE has no right to detain a green card holder who has not been convicted of, or even charged with, any crime. This is profoundly un-American, and Khalil must be released,” Myrie wrote on social media on Monday.
Speaker Adams wrote on Monday that the incident “cannot be allowed to stand,” calling it “blatant authoritarianism.”
Former Governor Cuomo and Mayor Adams have each remained largely silent on the difficulty, with Adams saying on Tuesday he didn’t wish to opine on the deportation as a result of the federal authorities was in cost.
In whole, 28 native officers signed Tuesday’s letter to Noem, together with Councilmembers Alexa Aviles and Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
Initially Printed: March 11, 2025 at 6:42 PM EDT
