LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A British journalist and media commentator was detained by ICE this week while he was on a U.S. speaking tour and is still in custody. Sami Hamdi is known for being extremely critical of Israel, as heard here on the U.K.'s Talk TV last year.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAMI HAMDI: The reason that the Israelis are deeply unhappy is not because of Hamas, but it's because a poll shows that the families of the hostages are deeply upset with Netanyahu's carpet-bombing of Gaza.
FADEL: After he was detained, the State Department posted online that it revoked Hamdi's visa because the U.S. has, quote, "no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism." Muslim advocacy groups say the move is retaliation for his speech. I spoke to Hamdi's wife, Soumaya. She says she's been left in the dark with only one 30-second call from her husband saying where he's being detained.
SOUMAYA HAMDI: Sami had been preparing to board a domestic flight from San Francisco to Florida when he was abducted by ICE agents. I can't adequately express just how devastating this is for me as his wife, for his children.
FADEL: Does he have access to legal counsel, to U.K. officials?
SOUMAYA HAMDI: Sami has entered the United States on a valid visa. It's been revoked with no notice, and this is why it is an abduction by the United States. He has thankfully got a legal team. We don't have any kind of timeline except that he may have a hearing in November.
FADEL: The Department of Homeland Security is accusing Sami of supporting terrorist groups, and they posted a video on Instagram of comments they say your husband made shortly after the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel two years ago. I'm just going to play a little bit of what they've been posting.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAMI HAMDI: How many of you feel it in your hearts when you got the news that it happened? How many of you felt the euphoria? Allahu akbar.
FADEL: These are comments that are going to make a lot of Americans uncomfortable. What do you say in response?
SOUMAYA HAMDI: Anyone who knows Sami knows that this is completely outrageous. The clip that you've referred to, it's not one clip. It's actually a selection of clips that have been edited and stitched together to frame Sami in this particular way.
FADEL: Last year, Hamdi tried to clarify his remarks in a speech before the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SAMI HAMDI: No one is saying October 7 was right. People are saying October 7 was a natural consequence of the oppression that was being put on the Palestinians and...
FADEL: We asked the State Department and DHS for evidence that Hamdi was supporting terrorism. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin replied, quote, "his own words were a pretty good indicator," sharing the video and a tweet from Hamdi. Immigration experts like Ahilan Arulanantham at the UCLA School of Law say the decision fits into a larger pattern.
AHILAN ARULANANTHAM: No question, there is a policy to suppress the viewpoints of pro-Palestine speakers.
FADEL: A federal judge last month agreed, ruling that the administration was targeting noncitizens because of their Palestinian activism and calling it unconstitutional and a full-throated assault on the First Amendment. Arulanantham says in theory, the First Amendment protects citizen and noncitizen alike in the U.S., whether the speech is reprehensible or not.
Does the government have the right to revoke a visa because they don't like what an individual is saying?
ARULANANTHAM: The Constitution prohibits it 'cause the First Amendment does not permit it. But there are these laws which authorize it, and their constitutionality has not been tested.
FADEL: Soumaya Hamdi says her husband is being targeted and misrepresented.
SOUMAYA HAMDI: He's someone who genuinely believes in the innate goodness of humanity and in the innate goodness of people. He wants to use his platform to be able to push for Palestinian rights. And Sami loves that - in America and in the U.K. that we have the right to freedom of political expressions. Anyone who wants to continue enjoying these freedoms should be very concerned about the detainment of Sami because it gets right to the heart of the First Amendment. And his arbitrary detention on the basis of his political expression is really chilling.
FADEL: Soumaya Hamdi is the wife of Sami Hamdi, a British citizen detained by ICE.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIDDHARTHA KHOSLA'S "JACK IN AA (DEJA VU)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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