Two days before U.S. agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student and Palestinian activist asked his wife if she knew what to do if immigration agents came to their door. Noor Abdalla,

President Donald Trump is warning that the arrest and possible deportation of a Palestinian activist who helped lead protests at Columbia University will be the first “of many to come” as his administration cracks down on protests against the war in Gaza.

U.S. Muslim and Jewish advocacy groups criticized President Donald Trump on Wednesday for referring to the top Senate Democrat, Senator Chuck Schumer, as a Palestinian, with the organizations saying the president used the term as a slur.

Donald Trump alleged Wednesday that Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, is not Jewish. “Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I’m concerned. You know, he’s become a Palestinian,” the president said in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil will remain in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana after his first court hearing to fight a potential deportation by the Trump administration.

A federal judge said Khalil will remain in the U.S. as the court weighs a challenge to his planned deportation, as President Donald Trump says his arrest will be the first of many.

The Trump administration’s apparent attempt to deport pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil could be one of the most important free speech cases in recent American history. If only we knew precisely what it was about.