Stephen Colbert has made clear where he stands on the federal detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestine protester who is now facing deportation despite his green card status.
“Another cool thing that is totally normal is arresting folks without any charges,” Colbert said sarcastically in his monologue Wednesday.
“This weekend, here in New York, ICE agents arrested a Palestinian activist who had helped lead the Columbia University protests,” Colbert explained, quoting from an Associated Press article.
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Colbert continued, quoting reports from NBC News and Columbia Spectator, explaining how the government has been “detaining Khalil without presenting a warrant or any filed charges, and whisking him to a detention facility in Louisiana without telling his wife, who is eight months pregnant.”
As the crowd booed the news, Colbert said, “If you don’t like that, you have a constitutional right to protest it.”
Colbert further broke down the situation: “Trump’s goons aren’t just jackbooted thugs. They’re also slow-witted doofs.”
He explained, “According to the detained man’s lawyer, the ICE agents who took him into custody initially claimed to be acting on a State Department order to revoke his student visa, but his lawyer told them he was actually a permanent resident with a green card, so they said they would revoke that documentation instead.”
“They didn’t even know what they were arresting him for!” Colbert said.
Colbert continued, “Trump made sure to let us know that this was no mistake, posting, ‘This is the first arrest of many to come.’”
“So he’s going to arrest anyone who disagrees with him?” Colbert asked. “Even me, John Oliver? Blimey.”
Colbert warned viewers about the slippery slope Khalil’s arrest could portend.
“Whether or not you agree with this protester and what he did,” Colbert said, “If you think this kind of thing will end with students, I’ve got a wall in Berlin to sell you.”
