The Trump administration’s controversial arrest and attempt to deport Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil this month prompted a viscerally personal reaction from John Oliver in this week’s monologue for Last Week Tonight.
“Maybe you feel different about the Israel-Palestine conflict than Khalil does. Maybe you don’t agree with the things that I’ve said about it,” Oliver said. “But if someone can be deported as a green card holder for speech in support of Palestine, or anything this administration objects to—that should chill you to the bone.”
It chilled Oliver because it brought back memories of his own path to U.S. citizenship.
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“Anyone who has been through the U.S. immigration process has probably had a lot of anxious feelings stirred up this week. I came here to start working at The Daily Show on a visa,” he said. “When we started (Last Week Tonight), I had a green card. And five years ago, I became a citizen. I know what it’s like to live in constant fear of being kicked out of somewhere you see here as your home.”
Pointing to a photo of him smiling and giving a thumb’s-up at his naturalization ceremony, he added: “That is what deep relief looks like.”
As Oliver said of Khlalil’s apprehension by ICE federal agents, “It seems like we’ve gone from innocent until proven guilty to ‘innocent, but you know what, get in the van anyway.’”
The Trump administration is citing a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the State Department power to deport any alien “whose presence or activities” “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” But Oliver claimed “that clause is incredibly vaguely worded,” and has no precedent. “As we are learning, they seem unafraid to test out new precedents.”
“Look, this clearly isn’t going to be the last assault on immigrants or the right to protest from this administration. There is still a lot of uncertainty about how this particular case will play out in the courts. But the public response to this should be unequivocal. Because this arrest was a f---ing disgrace,” Oliver said.
He added that he’s grateful for the public protests that already have sprouted up.
“And I hope that they get bigger and louder in the coming weeks because rights, like freedom of speech, are a fundamental part of living in this country,” Oliver said. “And if we do not protect them, then unfortunately, like the Teslas inexplicably for sale on the White House lawn this week, they could be going, going, gone.”
