ABC World News Tonight continues to champion the cause of radical campus protesters at Columbia University and elsewhere. Tonight’s report on detained green card holder Mahmoud Khalil was the continuance of an ongoing exercise in gaslighting and propaganda.
Here is the report in its entirety, as aired on ABC World News Tonight, on Wednesday, March 12th, 2025 (click “expand” to view full transcript):
DAVID MUIR: Tonight, hundreds of supporters are demanding the release of a former Columbia grad student and pro-Palestinian activist arrested by ICE agents, saying this is an attack on free speech. His American wife, 8 months pregnant, pleading for his release tonight. The Trump administration calling him a national security threat. Here’s Aaron Katersky.
PROTESTERS: Down, down with deportation!
AARON KATERSKY: Tonight, with hundreds of protesters in New York City clamoring for the release of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a federal judge is now weighing his bid for freedom. Khalil, a former Columbia grad student, was the lead negotiator during demonstrations that took over the campus last spring. He’s a green card owner with no criminal record, but his lawyer says federal immigration agents identified, targered, and detained Khalil simply because he advocated for Palestinians.
RAMZI KASSEM: This is an America- he’s a U.S. person. He’s a lawful permanent resident who’s been separated from his family.
KATERSKY: The Trump administration argues it has the right to deport Khalil, calling him a national security threat.
MARCO RUBIO: This is not about free speech. This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with.
TOM HOMAN: When you go to college campuses, you incite protesting, and locking down and taking over buildings, and damaging property and handing out leaflets for Hamas, who is a terrorist organization. Coming to this country either on a visa or becoming a resident alien is a great privilege. But there are rules associated with that.
KATERSKY: Khalil’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, was in the front row at the hearing today. Her lawyer reading a statement.
SHEZZA ABOUSHI DALAL (READING STATEMENT): It’s shameful that the United States Government continues to hold him because he stood for the rights and lives of his people. I demand his immediate release and return to our family.
KATERSKY: His lawyers say they’ve been unable to even talk to Khalil privately since his arrest. David, the judge said they must be allowed a phone call tonight, but for the foreseeable future Khalil will remain in custody at an ICE detention facility in Louisiana. David.
MUIR: Our Chief Investigative Correspondent Aaron Katersky again tonight. Thanks, Aaron.
The report, filed today by Aaron Katersly, follows a familiar multi-pronged pattern with regard to network news coverage of Khalil. On the one hand, there is the willful downplaying of the facts of the case, the omissions of the breadth and scope of Khalil’s activities, and intentional misrepresentation of the law.
On the other hand, there is the ongoing attempt to render Khalil a sympathetic figure. Did you know he has an American wife that is 8 months pregnant? How could you not?
All of these elements made an appearance within the first few seconds of Katersky’s report. As did the tired talking point about this being a battle for free speech. It is not, no matter how much the left and their allied media would like you to believe so.
At the heart of the Khalil question is whether the United States has the legal right to denaturalize and deport individuals whose conduct threatens either the government or natural security of the United States. It can be reasonably argued that Khalil qualifies for denaturalization and removal by virtue of his role in the protests, the groups with which he affiliates, and the aid and comfort to terrorists that his actions provide. Here, for example, is the Supreme Leader of Iran praising the pro-Hamas protests:
Dear university students in the United States of America, you are standing on the right side of history.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) May 29, 2024
To continue down the path of falsely casting Khalil as a free speech martyr is to advance the idea of color revolution within the United States. That the media continue to enable these ops raises questions of their own. Many of them.
