Congress ‘entitled’ to ‘regulating the conduct’ of visa holders, expert says amid deportation push

Reports that the Trump administration has begun to target some lawful permanent residents, better known as “green card” holders, with deportation has raised new legal questions about what rights U.S. legal residents have relative to citizens.

“The notion that the United States Congress is not entitled to pass immigration laws regulating the conduct, including the speech of aliens … is close to frivolous,” William Jacobson, a Cornell University law professor and founder of the Equal Protection Project, told Fox News Digital.

The comments come as President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts have reportedly spread to several green card holders, who are lawful permanent residents of the U.S., but not U.S. citizens. The green card holders have been targeted for reasons that include alleged support for terrorist organizations and anti-U.S. sentiment, raising questions about the constitutional rights of this group of lawful immigrants.

While green card holders have rights protected by the Constitution, Jacobson said they are also subject to U.S. immigration law, a set of rules not faced by U.S. citizens.

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Mahmoud Khalil’s case has fired up protesters who denounce President Donald Trump’s push to deport anti-Israel agitators who are in the U.S. on visas. (Getty Images)

“The focus is on free speech rights … green card holders, really anybody in the country, has First Amendment free-speech rights, but that’s only the first part of the equation,” Jacobson said. “The second part of the equation is that for non-citizens, they’re also governed by the immigration laws that do not apply to citizens. So to the extent the government is able to show grounds under the immigration laws for removal of an alien, whether here on a visa or a green card, the government is entitled to enforce those laws.”

At the center of this debate is the case of former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, an activist who was arrested by federal immigration authorities this month and faces accusations of support for the Palestinian terror group Hamas.

Khalil, a 30-year-old green card holder who is married to a U.S. citizen, also faces accusations that he was not truthful about prior employment in the Middle East on his visa application.

Jacobson said there are several avenues the government could take to remove Khalil from the country for violations of U.S. immigration law, though he will be afforded due process through the immigration law system.

“I think there’s plenty of grounds to remove him, or at least potential grounds to remove him, if they’re able to provide proof,” Jacobson said.

President Donald Trump listens to White House advisor David Sacks while signing an executive order in the Oval Office on Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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These immigration rules apply to all visa and green card holders, and in some cases they can still apply to those who have become naturalized U.S. citizens, Jacobson said.

He pointed to the case of Rasmea Odeh, a former American citizen who was convicted by Israeli military courts for involvement in the 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing. Odeh received a life sentence and spent 10 years in prison before being released in a prisoner exhange.

She later immigrated to the U.S. in 1990 and became a U.S. citizen, but she was convicted in 2014 of immigration fraud for concealing her previous conviction and had her U.S. citizenship revoked.

“So even if you come here, and you are naturalized as a citizen, but you have lied on your applications, that is a ground to strip your citizenship and deport you,” Jacobson said.

Mahmoud Khalil allegedly played a major role in the protests against Israel at Columbia University. (Ted Shaffrey/File)

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He also noted that the immigration laws were passed by Congress and are being carried out by the president, a system unique to immigrants to the United States. Ultimately, Jacobson said, such laws are in place for good reason.

“The notion that once we admit somebody into the country, they can come here, advocate for the destruction of our country, engage in conduct that deprives others of their constitutional rights, engages in an organization devoted to armed struggle and devoted to the destruction of Western civilization, and [that] there’s nothing we can do about it, I think it’s just contrary to the statutory scheme,” Jacobson said.