Controversy erupted over the extent that free speech protections apply to non-citizen foreign activists who agitate on college and university campuses against U.S. interests and security and in support of radically violent ideologies and known terrorist organizations that are sworn enemies of this nation and its close allies.

That controversy stems from the recent arrest and pending deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student who has led pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas protests on campus while advocating against U.S. policies and the existence of the Jewish State of Israel, the New York Post reported.

The detainment of Khalil stemmed from an order from President Donald Trump and was touted by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt as an example of the administration's "zero tolerance" policy toward the distribution of pro-terrorist propaganda on college and university campuses.

Pro-Hamas agitator arrested following Trump's directive

It was last week that President Trump, in response to a recent resurgence of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas unrest on college and university campuses, including at Columbia, declared in a Truth Social post, "All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests."

"Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came," he added. "American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter."

On Saturday, as a result of Trump's directive, Homeland Security agents arrested Khalil, a green card-holding Palestinian activist and protest leader at Columbia, and transported him to a migrant detention facility in Louisiana pending deportation, which has been blocked temporarily by a federal judge amid a lawsuit and outcry from Khalil's family, fellow activists, elected Democrats, and their media allies.

Arrest is "the first arrest of many to come"

In a Truth Social post on Monday, President Trump wrote, "Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University."

"This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it," he continued. "Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country -- never to return again."

"If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here," the president added. "We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply. Thank you!"

"A zero-tolerance policy for siding with terrorists"

During Tuesday's press briefing, per the New York Post, White House press secretary Leavitt addressed the situation and informed reporters that Khalil "was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges. And he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege by siding with terrorists, Hamas terrorists who have killed innocent men, women, and children."

"This is an individual who organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish-American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro-Hamas propaganda flyers with the logo of Hamas," she continued.

Examples of the propaganda flyers Khalil was distributing were shared with the Post and other media outlets, and it was overtly antisemitic and pro-Hamas, and Leavitt told reporters during the briefing, "This administration is not going to tolerate individuals … studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans. We have a zero-tolerance policy for siding with terrorists."

"Get them the hell out" of the country

President Trump also spoke with reporters about Khalil's arrest and other pro-Hamas foreign activists during an unrelated event outside the White House on Tuesday and said, "I think we ought to get them all out of the country. They’re troublemakers. They’re agitators. They don’t love our country. We ought to get them the hell out."

"I think that guy, we ought to get him -- I heard his statements too. They were plenty bad, and I think we ought to get him the hell out of the country," he added. "I watched him. I watched tapes, specifically, I watched tapes, and you can have him, okay? You can have him -- and you can have the rest of them. Let them go to school, let them learn. Columbia used to be a good school. Now it’s been overrun because of bad leadership."