Onepsie

Incredible—As DHS now says they'll deport Mahmoud Khalil, new docs show the State Department itself knew how weak the case was to take him. They themselves admitted he'd likely challenge it & that courts would "scrutinize the basis" for the Trump-Vance-Rubio admin to deport him:

Alas, Mr. Congressman, I'm not lying. And I started this line of questioning assuming you were telling the truth. I've written long essays on extremist Israeli violence in the West Bank. I know it happens. I was ready, at first glance, to believe it happened here. But it didn't. This wasn't Israeli violence. This was agitprop for your American audiences. I said explicitly that I'm not familiar with the details of that area. It took a lot of effort for JPost to find out what it found out -- which was that it was a closed military zone only recently opened. But if you'd coordinated your visit with Israeli authorities, this would have been sorted out from the start. Those soldiers weren't angry or aggressive, they seemed mostly just confused about the status of the area and how to handle your visit. Because, you know, there was no coordination. JPost suggests all that in the article you yourself shared. And what of the violence? Your group had cameras -- a professional photographer and at least one bodycam -- yet you've produced no evidence that I've seen of the violence you claim to have experienced. Remember that you claimed the violence was sufficient to demand that Netanyahu order the prosecution of those soldiers. I've seen that sort of violence before; if you produce that footage, I'll join your demand for prosecution. That's not rhetoric. I really will, wholeheartedly. But if you don't, I think it's safe to assume you blew up a small inconvenience caused by your own refusal to talk to Israelis. In a similar vein, you used the word "detained" as if you were unlawfully held against your will -- and hide behind its second meaning, that you were a bit delayed in driving forward into the area. The first is on the spectrum of kidnapping crimes, the second is the sort of problem you'd encounter at the entrance to a federal building as you search your pockets for an ID. Which was it? Anyway, you were angling for some domestic political brownie points, and congratulations, you got 'em.