NATIONAL – In a recent article published by the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), the murder of George Floyd—killed five years ago in Minneapolis by former police officer Derek Chauvin—was invoked to highlight the case of Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil, a Palestinian activist, Columbia University graduate student, and lawful permanent resident, testified from a Louisiana detention center that deportation could result in his “assassination, kidnapping, and torture,” according to the CLDC.
The CLDC argues that both cases illustrate a political evolution: from overt state violence to more strategic forms of suppression, like deportation. “This isn’t the failure of our organizing,” the CLDC wrote, quoting two attorneys with more than 60 years of combined experience. “It’s the system working exactly as expected—applying more force as it begins to lose control.”
According to the CLDC, both Floyd and Khalil were targets of systemic racism fueled by white nationalist groups such as the Proud Boys. The group cited the January 6, 2021, insurrection as evidence that these ideologies remain active and dangerous.
The article further asserts that state power routinely infringes on constitutional rights—particularly due process. “Floyd was murdered in the street without trial, judge, or jury—the ultimate denial of due process,” the CLDC wrote. Similarly, Khalil’s attorneys described his immigration proceedings as “a charade of due process,” pointing out that the immigration judge presiding over his case “serves at the pleasure of the president.”
The CLDC also accused the state of framing victims to justify repression. In Floyd’s case, he was portrayed as a threat over an allegedly counterfeit $20 bill, and later smeared as a drug addict. Khalil, the group says, is now accused of violating the Immigration and Nationality Act for allegedly causing “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” through his campus protest organizing.
In a grim turn, the CLDC noted that just days before the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s murder, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would terminate investigations and retract findings of wrongdoing in police departments nationwide. Within the first month of his second term, President Trump disbanded the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, which tracked police misconduct, the CLDC reported.
With 2024 marked as the deadliest year for law enforcement, the CLDC suggests that injustice is intensifying under what it describes as a hostile administration.
The organization urges a reframing of the narrative around systemic racism—not as a symptom of a broken system, but as the logical outcome of a system designed with racist origins. “We must be clear about what we’re facing,” the article states. “This isn’t a moment for despair—it’s a moment for sustained resistance that builds on our victories while adapting to new challenges.”
Finally, the CLDC warned that the government is already targeting individuals and organizations involved in activism. “The question isn’t whether they’ll come for the organizers—they already are,” the article concludes. “The question is whether we can maintain the Constitution to persevere in the face of it all.”
