The University of South Florida is no stranger to seeing members of its community come under scrutiny for speaking out on pro-Palestinian and Islamic issues.

Last summer police used tear gas on pro-Palestinian protesters at USF’s Tampa campus, leading to multiple arrests. More than two decades ago, a USF professor, Sami Al-Arian, was criticized over his public life, as well as for his early connections to the Palestine Islamic Jihad (Al-Arian eventually signed a plea agreement and was sentenced to 57 months in prison in the much-debated prosecution).

Last Wednesday, however, members of Tampa Bay’s Students for a Democratic Society rallied and led a protest calling for the release of someone else miles away: Mahmoud Khalil—a student at Columbia University and Syrian immigrant of Palestinian descent—who, according to the New York Times, served as a negotiator on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the main coalition of protesting student groups. On March 8, Khalil was taken into detention after federal officials accused him, without detail, of leading Hamas-aligned activity. Khalil denies the allegation, but was arrested by ICE agents at his home in New York.

“Khalil’s case is a clear threat to students and community who choose to participate in pro-Palestine protests,” SDS wrote. One of its members, Joseph Charry, a junior sociology major according to the Oracle, was suspended and forced to leave the country despite not being arrested at recent protests. A spokesperson for the school said USF values free speech, adding that, “Those who violate the USF Student Code of Conduct or university use of space policies are subject to sanctions from the university.”

Like Charry when he was suspended, Khalil holds a green card. Deporting the lawful permanent resident under the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to immigration, would require due process, and the ACLU has argued that Khali’s detention violates his constitutional rights.

“We the People should stand up against these repressive efforts and protect those rights so critical to the fabric of our nation that they were included in the First Amendment of our nation’s Constitution,” Amy Greer, associate attorney with Dratel & Lewis, who is helping with Khali’s case wrote in a statement.

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