1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

“There are 13 million legal foreign residents (green card holders) in the US. If the administration can deport Khalil, it means those 13 million people must live in fear if they dare speak up or publish something that runs afoul of government views. There are more than one million international students in the United States. They, too, may worry that they are no longer free to speak their mind. Punishing even one person for their speech is meant to intimidate others into self-censorship.” That quote comes from Columbia Journalism School, and I could not agree with them more. I beg you, as your constituent, to do whatever you can to fight for Mahmoud Khalil’s release from his unjust detention. Even if you can only release a statement (though I believe that there has to be more that can be done), it’s better to do that than to do nothing at all. I hope that you understand that if Trump succeeds with this deportation, then millions of legal residents can now be at risk of wrongful deportations all because they used their right to free speech. I may not be in these people’s positions since I was born in America. Nevertheless, I know right from wrong, and what Trump is doing to Mahmoud is wrong, and I will do what I can to call out when people have been wronged by my country. It is the American thing to do. Please do the right thing and demand Mahmoud’s release. Fight for the legal residents who are now in danger.