LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sami Hamdi’s lawyer british political commentator He is being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in California and is challenging his detention in court, his lawyers announced Wednesday.
Hamdi, a Muslim, was detained by ICE agents at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday, federal officials said. His lawyers say his arrest was motivated by his criticism of the Israeli government, while U.S. officials point to comments he made praising violence after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
The detentions were the latest in a broader effort by the administration to identify and potentially deport thousands of foreign nationals in the United States accused of inciting or participating in riots. publicly supported protests Oppose Israeli military operations in Gaza.
These enforcement measures have been criticized by civil rights groups as violating the constitutional guarantee of free speech, which applies to everyone in the country, not just American citizens.
Lawyers with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who is representing Mr. Hamdi, filed a habeas corpus petition Tuesday asking the government to justify why he is being detained, the council said.
Additionally, they asked the judge to seek a bail hearing and issue a temporary restraining order to prevent Mr. Hamdi from being removed from the United States while the case is adjudicated.
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“If the government can revoke a valid visa because it doesn’t like what someone is saying, then anyone lawfully visiting, studying or working in our country is at risk of politically motivated abduction,” the group said in a statement. “This has to end with Sami Hamdi.”
Aid groups say Hamdi, 35, was detained after vocally criticizing the Israeli government during a lecture tour in the United States. On Saturday, he spoke at the annual gala of the group’s Sacramento, Calif., chapter. Hamdi was scheduled to speak at the organization’s event in Florida on Sunday.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin called Hamdi’s court filing “a desperate Hail Mary attempt to keep an illegal alien and terrorist sympathizer in the United States.”
“Sami Hamdi supported Hamas after the October 7 terrorist attack,” McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday. “Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine the national security of the United States will not be allowed to work in or visit this country. That is common sense.”
In a statement, McLaughlin quoted Hamdi as saying in a video posted online shortly after the Hamas attack: “How many of you felt it in your heart when you heard the news of what happened? How many of you felt elation? Allah Akbar.” Hamdi later said his intention was not to glorify the attack, but to suggest that the violence was a “natural outcome of the oppression being inflicted on the Palestinian people.”
ICE announced Sunday that Mr. Hamdi entered the United States on October 19th on a visitor visa, but on October 24th his visa was revoked and he was placed in the entry process for deportation.
