Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, triggered a fresh debate on Thursday when he said that a green card does not give immigrants an indefinite right to stay in US.
Green cards, also officially called as Permanent Resident Cards, allow foreign nationals to live and work in the US. But even though they might call it “permanent residency,” it does not mean immigrants are guaranteed the right to stay indefinitely.
While speaking in an interview with ‘The Ingraham Angle’ host Laura Ingraham on Fox News, Vance said, “This is not about free speech. Yes, it’s about national security-but more importantly, it’s about who we, as American citizens, decide gets to join our national community.”
He further added that if the secretary of state and the President decide that a person shouldn’t be in the US, then they would have no legal right to be there and it is “as simple as that” to understand.
Vance made these comments in response to the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil is a Columbia University graduate student and a green card holder. He was arrested on Saturday for his involvement in protests against the Israel-Hamas war at Columbia University last spring.
As per Khalii’s lawyer, his green card was canceled by the Trump administration. However, New York federal Judge stopped any immediate deportation, ruling that a hearing should be held first.
Khalil’s lawyer, Amy Greer, told the Associated Press that ICE agents first said they were following a State Department order to cancel his student visa. When she told them that Khalil had a green card and was a permanent resident, they said they would cancel his green card instead.
The United States allows a green card to be taken away in certain situations, such as if the person commits a crime, stays out of the country for a long time, or doesn’t follow immigration rules.