Can You Stay Indefinitely In US With A Green Card? Here’s What JD Vance Says – News18

Last Updated:March 14, 2025, 12:57 IST

Vance said there would be an increase in the deportations of student visa holders after the arrest of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. Trump has vowed to deport pro-Palestinian agitators.

Following the arrest of a pro-Palestinian activist that sparked a furore in the United States, Vice President JD Vance has weighed in on the controversy and whether green-card holders have the right of indefinite stay in America.

Mahmoud Khalil – a Palestinian activist who helped lead student protests against Israel at Columbia University, was detained on the night of March 8, as he and his wife, Noor Abdalla, were returning to their Columbia University-owned apartment in upper Manhattan.

Khalil’s arrest sparked outrage from critics of the Trump administration as well as free speech advocates. However, President Donald Trump has vowed to arrest and deport more pro-Palestine supporters, describing them as “terrorist sympathisers”.

While speaking to ‘The Ingraham Angle‘ host Laura Ingraham on Fox News, Vance said he expected the deportations of illegal immigrants and pro-Hamas student visa holders to rise as the Trump administration is building the capacity to detain and eventually deport such individuals.

Vance said significant progress was made in achieving complete border security since Trump took office, and the priority was now to detain and deport illegal immigrants. He also accused former President Joe Biden of “underfunding” migrant detention and “destroying” the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ALSO READ: ‘Terrorist Sympathisers’: Trump Warns Of Deportation After Pro-Hamas Student Protester’s Arrest

‘A Green Card Holder Doesn’t Have…’

When asked about Khalil’s arrest, Vance argued that a green card holder does not have “an indefinite right to be in the United States”, triggering a fresh debate about immigration.

“A green card holder, even if I like that green card holder, doesn’t have an indefinite right to be in the United States. American citizens have different rights from people who have green cards, from people who have student visas,” he told Ingraham.

“My attitude on this is that this is not fundamentally about free speech, and to me, yes, it’s about national security, but it’s also more importantly about who do we as an American public decide gets to join our national community?” he said. “If the secretary of state and the president decide this person shouldn’t be in America, and they have no legal right to stay here, it’s as simple as that.”

Vance asserted that some people will soon get deported on student visas if “we determine that it’s not in the best interest of the United States to have them in our country”.

Khalil’s arrest had sparked furore, particularly after he was denied legal counsel and his student visa was being revoked. Several Democrats as well as Jewish students have protested Khalil’s arrest, describing it as “inhumane” and “unconstitutional”.

Trump and other Republicans have broadly accused pro-Palestinian protesters of supporting Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group whose deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, sparked the war, as protests engulfed several US campuses last year.

The government has not accused Khalil of breaking any laws, suggesting instead that his permanent residency was being revoked over his involvement in the protests. Judge Furman set a deadline of Friday for the government to submit arguments to the court, with a decision due on Monday.

Since Trump took office in January, he has made good on his election promise by ramping up the detainment and deportation of illegal immigrants in the United States. About 37,660 people were deported during the president’s first month in office, according to Reuters, and 70% of ICE arrestees under Trump had criminal records or were facing charges, the agency said earlier this week.

(with agency inputs)

Location :

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)