For perspective, there are 220 Democrats in the House of Representatives, all of whom have been unabashedly vocal in their criticism of the Trump administration’s actions on a near-daily basis.

There are 45 Democrats in the Senate.

But only a select number of self-styled progressives including Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Summer Lee, and Al Green – the man thrown out of President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech last week – were willing to add their names to language that leaves no room for interpretation.

“We are horrified by the recent illegal abduction and now indefinite detention of Mahmoud Khalil – a US legal permanent resident – by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents, and we unequivocally demand his immediate release from DHS custody,” the letter said.

“Khalil's arrest is an act of anti-Palestinian racism intended to silence the Palestine solidarity movement in this country,” it read. “He is a political prisoner.”

Among those notably absent from the document was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, otherwise known as AOC. She grew her brand as a member of the so-called "Squad" of progressive women in the House of Representatives but came under fire throughout Israel’s war on Gaza as she adopted what many saw as a more establishment-friendly tone within the Democratic Party.

After a social media firestorm, AOC’s chief of staff said she would have definitely signed the letter if it wasn’t too late, and that she was simply “waiting on a detail before signing”.

“Unfortunately, the letter was closed before that detail was confirmed,” he said on X.

“There are potentially logistical reasons for that, or just internal congressional process reasons for that,” one Democratic strategist working on Palestinian advocacy in Congress told Middle East Eye.

“I do think more lawmakers have spoken out than signed that letter.”

By the end of the day, it was revealed that AOC had signed a similar letter along with fellow New York Democrats serving at the local level.

Columbia University is located in New York City.