The case against Mahmoud Khalil is meant to silence American dissent | Moustafa Bayoumi

The open door of American democracy is slamming shut faster and louder than we could have imagined

On Friday afternoon, a federal immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, the lawful permanent resident who was arrested last month for his advocacy for Palestinian rights at Columbia University, was removable - that is to say, deportable - under the law.

Let's be absolutely clear about how outrageous this decision is. The judge, Jamee Comans, had given the Trump administration a deadline to produce the evidence required to show that Khalil should be deported. In a functional state, such evidence would rise to a standard of extreme criminality necessitating deportation.