Mahmoud

Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist and US resident, appeared before a federal appeals court in Philadelphia as Trump administration lawyers push to deport him. His case, tied to campus activism at Columbia University, has become a test of free speech and political dissent rights.

US immigration judge said prominent pro-Palestine activist withheld information on green card application.

An immigration judge in the United States has ordered that pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil, who played a leading role in protests last year against Israel’s war on Gaza at the prestigious Columbia University, be deported to Algeria or Syria.

Court documents, revealed on Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), showed that Louisiana immigration Judge Jamee Comans issued the ruling on September 12, accusing Khalil of failing to disclose key information when he applied and secured lawful permanent residency in the US.

Khalil, a native of Syria and an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin, has previously said he fears being targeted by Israel for his activism if he is deported to either country.

Judge Comans claimed that Khalil did not disclose his ties to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and Columbia University Apartheid Divest, an activist group which advocates for an economic boycott of Israel, on his green card application, describing it as a “lack of candor” by the applicant.

“This Court finds that Respondent wilfully misrepresented material fact(s) for the sole purpose of circumventing the immigration process and reducing the likelihood his applications could be denied,” Comans said.

Khalil’s lawyers responded, saying that they intend to appeal the deportation order, and pointed to a federal district court’s order earlier this year prohibiting the government from immediately deporting or detaining Khalil as his federal court case proceeds.

Khalil’s legal team now has 30 days from the day of the deportation ruling, on September 12, to appeal against the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals. His lawyers said they expect the appeal process to be swift and their attempt unsuccessful, as noncitizens are “almost never” granted stays of removal.

US immigration agents first arrested Khalil – a former graduate student at Columbia University in New York – on March 8 after showing up at his student apartment building on campus in the city.

The arrest was part of a wider crackdown on pro-Palestine activism on college campuses across the US, which saw several overseas students detained and deported while universities were hit with federal funding cuts by Trump over alleged anti-Semitic activities.

Authorities held Khalil at an immigration detention centre in Louisiana for three months until he was released in June following a ruling by US District Judge Michael Farbiarz that his detention was unconstitutional.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and law enforcement officials had repeatedly portrayed Khalil’s peaceful activism as anti-Jewish and supportive of Hamas, but they failed to provide any evidence backing their allegations.

Farbiarz ruled that the Trump administration was likely violating Khalil’s right to free speech by detaining and attempting to deport him under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which allows the removal of foreign nationals who bear “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.

The White House has been relentless in its attempts to deport Khalil, pivoting more recently to the alleged violations of his green card application.

Khalil’s lawyers expressed concern following the deportation ruling that the “only meaningful impediment” to their client’s deportation was now the “important order prohibiting removal” issued by Judge Farbiarz.

In a statement published by the ACLU on Wednesday, Khalil also accused the Trump administration of using “fascist tactics” to retaliate against him for his “exercise of free speech”.

“When their first effort to deport me was set to fail, they resorted to fabricating baseless and ridiculous allegations in a bid to silence me for speaking out and standing firmly with Palestine, demanding an end to the ongoing genocide [in Gaza],” Khalil said.

Sept. 17 (UPI) — An immigration judge has ordered former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil to either Algeria or Syria, court documents filed Wednesday show, as his lawyers argue the Trump administration is ramping up its retaliation against the Palestinian activist.

Khalil has been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown targeting pro-Palestine activism at universities. He was arrested March 8 for his pro-Palestine speech by the federal government, which has sought to remove him from the country.

He fought his detention in the courts, gaining his freedom in June. But the Trump administration continues its attempt to remove him, despite his wife and children being American citizens, this time on grounds that he omitted or misrepresented information on his green card application. His attorneys described the allegations as “baseless.”

Civil rights organizations, advocates and Trump administration critics argue its targeting of Khalil is an attack on his due process rights in retaliation for expressing his support for Palestine.

In a letter dated Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, the judge who issued Khalil’s June release, the Palestinian activist’s representation revealed that immigration Judge Jamee Comans ordered Khalil’s removal to either of the two countries Friday when he denied their motion for a waiver to prevent his removal.

The lawyers said Khalil has 30 days from Friday to file an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, and they called on Farbiarz to intervene.

“The only meaningful impediment to Petitioner’s physical removal from the United States would be this Court’s important order prohibiting removal during the pendency of his federal habeas case,” Khalil’s representation said.

Farbiarz, a President Joe Biden-appointee, had ordered Khalil’s release from federal immigration detention in June after denying the government’s argument that the former Columbia University graduate student was a threat to U.S. foreign policy.

The Trump administration is now seeking his removal alleging Khalil omitted or misrepresented information on his green card application, specifically not mentioning his previous internship with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, better known as UNRWA.

The letter to Farbiarz on Wednesday states Comans denied Khalil’s request for a waiver against his removal without conducting an evidentiary hearing.

His lawyers also said Khalil was denied the waiver because of the alleged misrepresentation to adjust his immigration without the opportunity to present contrary evidence. Instead, the judge relied on Secretary of State Marco Rubio‘s statement that Khalil’s presence in the country is a threat to U.S. foreign policy to justify the denial.

“It’s no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech,” Khalil said in a statement provided by the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Their latest attempt, through kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again.”

He accused the Trump administration of “fabricating baseless and ridiculous allegations” against him following its first failed attempt to deport him to try and silence his speech in support of Palestine.

“Such fascist tactics will never deter me from continuing to advocate for my people’s liberation,” he said.

Washington, DC – Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University protest leader targeted for deportation by President Donald Trump, has met with lawmakers in Washington, DC.

The visit on Tuesday comes just more than a month after the 30-year-old, a legal permanent resident of the United States, was released from immigration custody in Louisiana.

“I’m here in Washington, DC, today to meet with lawmakers, with members of Congress, to demand the end of the US-funded genocide in Gaza, and also to demand accountability from Columbia University, from the Trump administration for their retaliation against my speech,” said Khalil in a video interview with the news agency Reuters.

“To be honest, I feel that this is my duty to continue advocating for Palestinians. This is what the Trump administration tried to do. They tried to silence me. But I’m here to say that we will continue to resist. We are not backing down.”

Khalil continues to face deportation under the Trump administration, which has relied on an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 in its attempts to expel international students involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Under the law, the secretary of state can expel a foreign national if their presence in the country is deemed to have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”, although the standard for making that determination remains unclear.

I met with Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student at Columbia University, who was imprisoned for 104 days by the Trump administration for opposing Netanyahu’s illegal & horrific war in Gaza. Outrageous.

We must not allow Trump to destroy the First Amendment & freedom to dissent. pic.twitter.com/2iaIi8dUWF

— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 22, 2025

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and immigration officials have repeatedly portrayed Khalil’s advocacy as anti-Jewish and supportive of Hamas, but they have failed to provide evidence backing those claims.

Lawyers for Khalil and three other students targeted for deportation by the Trump administration — Mohsen Mahdawi, Rumeysa Ozturk and Badar Khan Suri — have argued that their arrests trample on the constitutionally protected freedom of speech.

Several district judges have sided with that position in ordering the students’ release from custody as their cases proceed in immigration court.

Earlier this month, Khalil, who missed the birth of his son while detained, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration alleging malicious prosecution, as well as false arrest and imprisonment. He is seeking $20m in damages or an apology from the government.

US Senator Bernie Sanders was among the lawmakers who met with Khalil on Tuesday.

“We must not allow Trump to destroy the First Amendment & freedom to dissent,” Sanders said in a post on the social media platform X, accompanied by a photo with Khalil.

Mahmoud Khalil is a kind, gentle soul who cares deeply about others’ humanity, and his abduction, detention, and ongoing persecution by the Trump Admin is egregious.

I am deeply relieved that he has been reunited with his wife and his infant son. Our meeting today was fortifying… pic.twitter.com/HgWWkTafPw

— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) July 22, 2025

Khalil also met with Congress members Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Jim McGovern, Troy Carter and Summer Lee.

“Mahmoud Khalil is a kind, gentle soul who cares deeply about others’ humanity, and his abduction, detention, and ongoing persecution by the Trump Admin is egregious,” Pressley wrote in a post on X.

“Our meeting today was fortifying and productive.”

In its own social media message on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security once again called Khalil a “terrorist sympathiser”, accusing him of anti-Jewish “hateful behavior and rhetoric”.

However, ahead of his release in June, federal Judge Michael Farbiarz said he had given the administration lawyers ample time to support the public statements made against Khalil. He said they failed to do so.

“The petitioner’s career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled,” Farbiarz wrote at the time. “This adds up to irreparable harm.”

July 11 (UPI) — Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for 104 days has filed a complaint against the administration of President Donald Trump for $20 million.

“It was a very, very dehumanizing experience, for someone who was not accused of any crime, whatsoever,” Khalil told CNN. He is a green card holder who had no formal criminal or civil charges against him.

His administrative complaint, which is a precursor to a federal lawsuit, alleges that he was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an anti-Semite. The U.S. government tried to deport him because of his leadership of campus protests at Columbia University.

His arrest felt like a kidnapping, he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. He was on his way home from dinner with his wife Noor Abdalla, who was pregnant at the time. Agents followed him into the lobby of his apartment building, and they threatened his wife with arrest if she didn’t separate from him, he said. The ICE agents did not have a warrant for the arrest.

The government held Khalil, 30, in an ICE facility in Louisiana, alleging he supports Hamas. The administration hasn’t shown any evidence of this, and Khalil’s legal team has rejected it.

“(The complaint) is just the first step of accountability, that this administration has to pay for what it’s doing against me or against anyone who opposes their fascist agenda,” Khalil told NBC News Thursday.

Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia, has said he either wants $20 million or an apology from the administration.

“My goal is not self-enrichment. I don’t want this money just because I need money. What I want is actual accountability. Real, real accountability against the injustices that happened against me with the malicious prosecutions that I was targeted for all this.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said it acted properly.

“The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property,” DHS posted on X before his release in June. “An immigration judge has already vindicated this position. We expect a higher court to do the same.”

The complaint names the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the State Department. He filed it under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The immigration case against him continues in the courts.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is representing Khalil. It said he would use the money to “help others similarly targeted by the Trump administration and Columbia University.”

Mahmoud Khalil, a former student activist imprisoned for more than three months, has filed a wrongful detention claim against the administration of President Donald Trump, seeking $20m in damages.

Thursday’s court filings allege that the Trump administration smeared his reputation, maliciously prosecuted Khalil and unlawfully imprisoned him.

The claim names the United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of State as defendants.

In an interview with The Associated Press (AP), Khalil said he hopes his claim will show that the Trump administration cannot bully activists into silence.

“They are abusing their power because they think they are untouchable,” Khalil said. “Unless they feel there is some sort of accountability, it will continue to go unchecked.”

Thursday’s claim is likely to be the precursor to a full-fledged lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Khalil, who served as a spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, said he plans to use any money he receives from his claim to help other activists whose speech Trump has attempted to suppress.

He also told the AP he would accept an apology and a revision of the Trump administration’s deportation policies. Khalil himself continues to face deportation proceedings as a result of his activism.

What happened?

Born to Palestinian parents in Damascus, Syria, Khalil was a face for the Palestinian solidarity movement in the US after the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.

United Nations experts and human rights groups have warned that Israel’s tactics in Gaza are “consistent with genocide”, and Columbia University became the epicentre for global, student-led protests.

“I’m one of the lucky ones who are able to advocate for the rights of Palestinians, the folks who are getting killed back in Palestine,” Khalil told Al Jazeera in May 2024.

But Trump campaigned for a second term on pledges to crack down on immigration to the US and stamp out the antiwar protests, which he described as anti-Semitic.

Upon taking office in January, Trump issued executive orders setting the stage for the removal of foreign nationals deemed to have “hostile attitudes” towards the US or who were accused of supporting “threats to our national security”.

One of the orders instructed federal authorities to take “actions to remove such aliens” from the US.

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump wrote at the time. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”

Khalil was the first major arrest in Trump’s crackdown on the student protesters. Video shot by his pregnant wife, Noor Abdalla, on March 8 shows plain-clothed immigration officers handcuffing Khalil and leading him out of his university apartment complex in New York City.

He was swiftly moved from New York to New Jersey and then to Louisiana, where he was held at the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena ahead of his planned deportation.

Inside the legal proceedings

Lawyers for Khalil, however, swiftly filed two challenges: one against his deportation and one against his detention, in what is called a habeas corpus petition.

Because of the swift and clandestine nature of his departure to Louisiana, Khalil’s lawyers have said they did not know where their client was in the initial days after his arrest. Khalil is a permanent US resident, and his wife a citizen.

To justify his deportation, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. That provision allows the secretary of state to remove any foreign nationals he believes to have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.

Khalil has not been charged with any crime. The US, however, is a close ally of Israel and has provided military support to its campaign in Gaza, which has killed at least 57,762 people.

On March 9, shortly after Khalil’s arrest, the Department of Homeland Security also issued a statement accusing Khalil of anti-Semitism, citing Trump’s executive orders.

“Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” the statement said. “ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting US national security.”

Trump himself called Khalil a “Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student” and a “terrorist sympathizer”.

“This is the first arrest of many to come,” the president wrote on social media. “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.”

But Khalil and his legal team have accused the Trump administration of violating his constitutional rights to free speech.

Since Khalil’s arrest, other foreign students have been arrested too, including Mohsen Mahdawi and Rumeysa Ozturk, who was reportedly imprisoned for writing an opinion article in her student newspaper against Israel’s war.

On June 20, a judge in New Jersey ordered Khalil’s release. He missed the birth of his first child while incarcerated.

NEW YORK — On a recent afternoon, Mahmoud Khalil sat in his Manhattan apartment, cradling his 10-week-old son as he thought back to the pre-dawn hours spent pacing a frigid immigration jail in Louisiana, awaiting news of the child’s birth in New York.

For a moment, the outspoken Palestinian activist found himself uncharacteristically speechless.

“I cannot describe the pain of that night,” Khalil said finally, gazing down as the baby, Deen, cooed in his arms. “This is something I will never forgive.”

Now, weeks after regaining his freedom, Khalil is seeking restitution. On Thursday, his lawyers filed a claim for $20 million in damages against the Trump administration, alleging Khalil was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite as the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests.

The filing — a precursor to a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act — names the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the State Department.

It comes as the deportation case against Khalil, a 30-year-old recent graduate student at Columbia University, continues to wind its way through the immigration court system.

The goal, Khalil said, is to send a message that he won’t be intimidated into silence.

“They are abusing their power because they think they are untouchable,” Khalil said. “Unless they feel there is some sort of accountability, it will continue to go unchecked.”

Khalil plans to share any settlement money with others targeted in Trump’s “failed” effort to suppress pro-Palestinian speech. In lieu of a settlement, he said he would also accept an official apology and changes to the administration’s deportation policies.

In an emailed statement, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, called Khalil’s claim “absurd,” accusing him of “hateful behavior and rhetoric” that threatened Jewish students.

A State Department spokesperson said its actions toward Khalil were fully supported by the law. Inquiries to the White House and ICE were not immediately returned.

Harsh conditions and an ‘absurd’ allegation

The filing accuses President Trump and other officials of mounting a haphazard and illegal campaign to “terrorize him and his family,” beginning with Khalil’s March 8 arrest.

On that night, he said he was returning home from dinner with his wife, Noor Abdalla, when he was “effectively kidnapped” by plainclothes federal agents, who refused to provide a warrant and appeared surprised to learn he was a legal U.S. permanent resident.

He was then whisked overnight to an immigration jail in Jena, La., a remote location that was “deliberately concealed” from his family and attorneys, according to the filing.

Inside, Khalil said he was denied his ulcer medication, forced to sleep under harsh fluorescent lights and fed “nearly inedible” food, causing him to lose 15 pounds. “I cannot remember a night when I didn’t go to sleep hungry,” Khalil recalled.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration publicly celebrated the arrest, promising to deport him and others whose protests against Israel it dubbed “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”

Khalil, who has condemned antisemitism before and since his arrest, was not accused of a crime and has not been linked to Hamas or any other terrorist group. “At some point, it becomes like reality TV,” Khalil said of the allegations. “It’s very absurd.”

Deported for beliefs

A few weeks into his incarceration, Khalil was awoken by a fellow detainee, who pointed excitedly to his face on a jailhouse TV screen. A new memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged Khalil hadn’t broken the law, but argued he should be deported for beliefs that could undermine U.S. foreign policy interests.

“My beliefs are not wanting my tax money or tuition going toward investments in weapons manufacturers for a genocide,” Khalil said. “It’s as simple as that.”

By then, Khalil had become something of a celebrity in the 1,200-person lock-up. When not dealing with his own case, he hosted “office hours” for fellow immigrant detainees, leaning on his past experience working at a British embassy in Beirut to help others organize paperwork and find translators for their cases.

“I’m pretty good at bureaucracy,” Khalil said.

At night, they played Russian and Mexican card games, as Khalil listened to “one story after another from people who didn’t understand what’s happening to them.”

“This was one of the most heartbreaking moments,” he said. “People on the inside don’t know if they have any rights.”

Lost time

On June 20, after 104 days in custody, Khalil was ordered released by a federal judge, who found the government’s efforts to remove him on foreign policy grounds were likely unconstitutional.

He now faces new allegations of misrepresenting personal details on his green card application. In a motion filed late Wednesday, attorneys for Khalil described those charges as baseless and retaliatory, urging a judge to dismiss them.

The weeks since his release, Khalil said, have brought moments of bliss and intense personal anguish.

Fearing harassment or possible arrest, he leaves the house less frequently, avoiding large crowds or late-night walks. But he lit up as he remembered watching Deen taking his first swim earlier in the week. “It was not very pleasant for him,” Khalil said, smiling.

“I’m trying as much as possible to make up for the time with my son and my wife,” he added. “As well thinking about my future and trying to comprehend this new reality.”

Part of that reality, he said, will be continuing his efforts to advocate against Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. On the day after his arrest, he led a march through Manhattan, draped in a Palestinian flag — and flanked by security.

As he poured Deen’s milk into a bottle, Khalil considered whether he might’ve done anything differently had he known the personal cost of his activism.

“We could’ve communicated better. We could’ve built more bridges with more people,” he said. “But the core thing of opposing a genocide, I don’t think you can do that any differently. This is your moral imperative when you’re watching your people be slaughtered by the minute.”

Offenhartz writes for the Associated Press.

See the moment former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was held for 100 days in a US detention centre, was greeted by supporters after his release from custody. Khalil vowed to continue protesting US complicity in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Former Columbia University student was released from a detention centre on Friday after being held for more than three months.

Former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil has pledged to continue protesting Israel’s war on Gaza, as well as the United States’s support for Israel’s military operations.

Khalil, who was released on Friday night after being detained for more than three months at a detention centre, told reporters at New Jersey’s Newark International Airport on Saturday that the government was funding “this [Gaza] genocide, and Columbia University is investing in this genocide”.

“This is why I will continue to protest with every one of you. Not only if they threaten me with detention. Even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine,” he said.

“Whether you are a citizen, an immigrant, anyone in this land, you’re not illegal. That doesn’t make you less of a human.”

Born in Syria to Palestinian parents, Khalil, 30, was arrested by immigration agents at his university residence in March and swiftly became the image for President Donald Trump’s harsh crackdown on pro-Palestine student protesters and their possible deportation in the name of alleged anti-Semitism.

The government has claimed that the grounds to detain and deport Khalil, a legal US citizen, were that there were inaccuracies in his application for permanent residency.

But District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it was “highly, highly unusual” for the government to continue detaining a legal US resident who was unlikely to flee and had not been accused of any violence.

Under the terms of his release, Khalil is not allowed to leave the country except for “self-deportation” and faces restrictions on where he can go in the US.

The government condemned the decision to release Khalil and filed a notice that it was appealing the decision.

CONCORD, N.H. — A Palestinian activist who was detained for more than three months pushed his infant son’s stroller with one hand and pumped his fist in the air with the other as supporters welcomed him home Saturday.

Mahmoud Khalil greeted friends and spoke briefly to reporters Saturday at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey a day after a judge ordered his release from a federal immigration facility in Louisiana. The former Columbia University graduate student, a symbol of President Trump’s clampdown on campus protests, vowed to continue protesting Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.

“The U.S. government is funding this genocide, and Columbia University is investing in this genocide,” he said. “This is why I will continue to protest with every one of you. Not only if they threaten me with detention. Even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine.”

Khalil, a legal U.S. resident whose wife gave birth during his 104 days of detention, said he also will speak up for the immigrants he left behind in the detention center.

“Whether you are a citizen, an immigrant, anyone in this land, you’re not illegal. That doesn’t make you less of a human,” he said.

The 30-year-old international affairs student wasn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. However, the Trump administration has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the U.S. for expressing views it deems to be antisemitic or “pro-Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Khalil was released after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be “highly, highly unusual” for the government to continue detaining a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn’t been accused of any violence. The government filed notice Friday evening that it is appealing Khalil’s release.

Joining Khalil at the airport, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said his detention violated the 1st Amendment and was “an affront to every American.”

“He has been accused, baselessly, of horrific allegations simply because the Trump administration and our overall establishment disagrees with his political speech,” she said.

“The Trump administration knows that they are waging a losing legal battle,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “They are violating the law, and they know that they are violating the law.”

Ramer writes for the Associated Press.

Palestinian activist and former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil was released after three months in immigration detention, following a judge’s ruling to free him amid growing backlash over Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus protests.

June 20 (UPI) — Former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil on Friday night was freed from federal detention in central Louisiana after a federal judge ordered his release.

In Newark, N.J., U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said that prosecutors didn’t provide a legitimate justification for 104 days of detention since March 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Syrian national organized campus protests favoring Hamas while enrolled at Columbia University in New York City, which runs counter to U.S. foreign policy.

Farbiarz, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said it was “highly, highly unusual” the government still wanted him detained.

“Together, they suggest that there is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner – and, of course, that would be unconstitutional,” the judge said.

He was ordered to surrender his passport and travel documents, and restricted to four states and Washington, D.C.

While in detention, Khalil missed the birth of his first child in New York in April, and he was allowed to hold him while in custody in May. His wife is a U.S. citizen.

Just before 8 p.m. CDT, Khalil walked out of the detention center in Jena, La., about 220 miles northwest of New Orleans, with his lawyers and wearing a kaffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity.

He said no person “should actually be detained for protesting a genocide,” Khalil said. “Justice will prevail.”

“After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” Dr. Noor Abdalla, Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. “We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians. But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family, and the community that has supported us since the day he was unjustly taken for speaking out for Palestinian freedom.”

Alina Das, one of Khalil’s lawyers and co-director of New York University’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, said: “The purpose of every step that the government has taken in this case has been to ensure that Mr. Khalil remains locked away until he is deported, as retaliation and punishment for his speech.”

After the birth of his son Deen, he wrote: “During your first moments, I buried my face in my arms and kept my voice low so that the 70 other men sleeping in this concrete room would not see my cloudy eyes or hear my voice catch. I feel suffocated by my rage and the cruelty of a system that deprived your mother and me of sharing this experience. Why do faceless politicians have the power to strip human beings of their divine moments?

“Since that morning, I have come to recognize the look in the eyes of every father in this detention center. I sit here contemplating the immensity of your birth and wonder how many more firsts will be sacrificed to the whims of the US government, which denied me even the chance of furlough to attend your birth.”

He was arrested outside student housing on the campus.

On June 11, Farbiarz ordered Khalil’s release after determining that the government could no longer detain him over the claim he is a threat to the country’s foreign policy.

Then two days later, Trump administration said Khalil could be detained because they said he kept some prior work off his application for permanent residency. The judge allowed the detention to continue.

The Justice Department wanted him detained until an immigration judge could weigh the matter, claiming tFarbiarz does not have jurisdiction.

Farbiarz said it would be a “waste of time” to send the case to an immigration judge who would likely reach his same conclusion.

Other pro-Palestinian activists have also been released as their immigration cases go through the courts.

In April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a memo, citing an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The secretary of state can deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the country would result in “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

The arrest was carried out by the ICE, which is part of Homeland Security.

Khalil, who was born in 1995, grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and was granted permanent U.S. resident status. H

Khalil was held by ICE under two charges

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. government to free former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from the immigration detention center where he has been held since early March while the Trump administration sought to deport him over his role in pro-Palestinian protests.

Ruling from the bench in New Jersey, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be “highly, highly unusual” for the government to continue to detain a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn’t been accused of any violence.

In reaching his decision, he said Khalil is likely not a flight risk and “is not a danger to the community. Period, full stop.”

He ordered Khalil released from a detention center in rural Louisiana later Friday.

The government had “clearly not met” the standards for detention, he said later in the hourlong hearing, which took place by phone.

Khalil was the first arrest under President Trump’s crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel’s devastating war in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Khalil must be expelled from the country because his continued presence could harm American foreign policy.

Farbiarz had ruled earlier that the government couldn’t deport Khalil on those grounds, but gave it leeway to continue pursuing a potential deportation based on allegations that he lied on his green card application. Khalil disputes the accusations that he wasn’t forthcoming on the application.

Khalil’s lawyers had asked that he either be freed on bail or, at the very least, moved from a Louisiana jail to New Jersey so he can be closer to his wife and newborn son, who are both U.S. citizens.

The judge noted Khalil is now clearly a public figure given his prominence during the campus protests and since his detainment.

He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. His lawyers say the Trump administration is simply trying to crack down on free speech.

Khalil isn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The international affairs graduate student served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists. He wasn’t among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics.

The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country as it considers their views antisemitic.

The judge noted Khalil has no criminal record and the government has put forward no evidence to suggest he’s been involved in violence or property destruction.

Marcelo writes for the Associated Press.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Noor Abdalla, the Columbia University graduate student’s wife, says the family ‘can finally breathe a sigh of relief’.

A federal judge in the United States has ordered the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who has been detained since March by immigration authorities over his involvement in Palestinian rights protests at Columbia University.

The decision on Friday to grant Khalil bail came from a federal court in New Jersey, where Khalil’s lawyers are challenging his detention. It is separate from the legal push against his deportation that will continue to take place in immigration courts.

It is unclear whether Khalil – who is a legal permanent resident – will be immediately freed. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has been advocating on his behalf, said he will be returning to New York to be with his family.

“This is a joyous day for Mahmoud, for his family, and for everyone’s First Amendment rights,” ACLU lawyer Noor Zafar said in a statement, referring to the US constitutional provision that protects free speech.

“Since he was arrested in early March, the government has acted at every turn to punish Mahmoud for expressing his political beliefs about Palestine. But today’s ruling underscores a vital First Amendment principle: The government cannot abuse immigration law to punish speech it disfavors.”

He was the first known activist to be detained and have his legal immigration status revoked by the administration of President Donald Trump over involvement in student protests.

His case gained national attention, especially after the authorities denied him the chance to witness the birth of his first born son in April.

“After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” said Noor Abdalla, Khalil’s wife, said in a statement.

Khalil was not charged of any crime. Instead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has used a rarely used provision of an immigration law that allows him to order the removal of noncitizens if they are deemed to have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US.

Advocates have argued that the crackdown violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of speech.

The Trump administration has also been criticised for sending immigration authorities – sometimes masked and in plainclothes – to detain the students instead of allowing them to remain free while they challenge their deportation.

Several other students that the Trump administration is looking to deport have been ordered released by federal courts, including Turkish Tufts University scholar Rumeysa Ozturk and Columbia’s Mohsen Mahdawi.

Ozturk was detained over co-authoring an op-ed calling on her school to abide by the student government’s call for divesting from companies involved in Israeli abuses against Palestinians.

Khalil, who lived with his wife, a US citizen, in New York, has been detained in rural Louisiana – an effort that his supporters say aims to keep him away from his family and lawyers and transfer him to a more conservative rural jurisdiction.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said Khalil’s release is a blow to the Trump administration, which has insisted that he must remain in detention while making his immigration case.

“The bottom line in all of this is that he has really become sort of a poster child for those who are advocating for free speech in the United States,” Halkett said.

June 13 (UPI) — A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Trump administration can continue to detain Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, two days after he said foreign policy grounds for his detention are insufficient and likely unconstitutional.

Michael Farbiarz of the U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Newark made the decision after government lawyers presented a new filing. Farbiaz on Wednesday had stayed the preliminary injunction until Friday, giving the government time to appeal.

The government said continuing to detain Khalil does not violate the injunction because he is now being detained based on “other grounds,” such as being undocumented when he entered the United States.

Also, they said Khalil could be held for failing to disclose all required information on his legal permanent resident application.

The administration said that “an alien like Khalil may be detained during the pendency of removal proceedings regardless of the charge of removability. Khalil may seek release through the appropriate administrative processes, first before an officer of the Department of Homeland Security, and secondly through a custody redetermination hearing before an immigration judge.”

The judge, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said Khalil can seek his release through a “bail application to the immigration judge.

“To the extent the Petitioner requests relief from this Court, the request is denied,” the judge ruled.

In April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a memo, citing an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The secretary of state can deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the country would result in “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

On Wednesday, the judge said that while the Department of Homeland Security might have a stronger and enforceable claim to detain and deport Khalil, Rubio’s determination is not enough to warrant his continued detention and eventual deportation.

Brett Max Kaufman, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, told NBC News: “The government practically never holds people in detention on a charge like this, and it’s clear that the government is doing anything they can to punish Mahmoud for his speech about Palestine. We will not stop until he’s home with his family.”

Khalil, who was born in 1995, grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and was granted permanent U.S. resident status. He led pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year.

In March, he was arrested outside his student housing on campus and detained before the Trump administration accused him of leading “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”

He has not been charged with any crime.

The Trump administration has argued that Khalil, a Columbia University student, did not disclose past affiliations.

A United States federal judge has allowed the administration of President Donald Trump to keep student protester Mahmoud Khalil in custody based on allegations of immigration fraud.

On Friday, Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, New Jersey, ruled that Khalil’s legal team had not adequately shown why his detention on the charge would be unlawful.

It was a major setback for Khalil, who had been a negotiator for the student protesters at Columbia University demonstrating against Israel’s war on Gaza. He was the first high-profile protester to be arrested under Trump’s campaign to expel foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Just this week, Farbiarz appeared poised to order Khalil’s release, on the basis that his detention under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was unconstitutional.

That law stipulates that the secretary of state – in this case, Marco Rubio – has the power to remove foreign nationals who have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”. But Farbiarz ruled that Rubio’s use of the law violated Khalil’s freedom of speech.

Still, the Trump administration filed additional court papers saying it had another reason for wanting to deport Khalil.

It alleged that Khalil, a permanent US resident, had omitted information from his green-card application that would have otherwise disqualified him from gaining residency.

The Trump administration has long accused Khalil of supporting terrorism through his protest-related activities, something the former graduate student has vehemently denied.

In the case of his green-card application, it argues that Khalil failed to disclose his work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), a humanitarian organisation. Politicians in Israel and the US have accused UNRWA of ties to the armed group Hamas, an allegation reportedly made without evidence.

Khalil, however, has denied he was ever an “officer” in UNRWA, as alleged. Instead, his legal team points out that he completed a United Nations internship through Columbia University.

The Trump administration also argues that Khalil did not accurately identify the length of his employment with the Syria Office of the British Embassy in Beirut. Khalil and his legal team, meanwhile, say he accurately identified his departure date from the job as December 2022.

Judge Farbiarz had set Friday morning as a deadline for the Trump administration to appeal Khalil’s release on bail. But that deadline was extended to give the government more time to challenge Khalil’s release.

Ultimately, Farbiarz allowed the Trump administration to continue its detention of Khalil. He advised Khalil’s lawyers to seek release on bail from the immigration court where his deportation trial is being held in Louisiana.

Farbiarz had been weighing a separate habeas corpus petition from the Khalil team that called into question the constitutionality of his continued detention.

Marc Van Der Hout, a lawyer for Khalil, told the Reuters news agency that immigration fraud charges are exceedingly rare, and the Trump administration’s use of such charges was simply a political manoeuvre to keep Khalil in lock-up.

“Detaining someone on a charge like this is highly unusual and frankly outrageous,” said Van Der Hout. “There continues to be no constitutional basis for his detention.”

Another lawyer representing Khalil, Amy Greer, described the new allegations against his green-card application as part of the government’s “cruel, transparent delay tactics”. She noted that Khalil, a new father whose child was born in April, would miss his first Father’s Day, which falls this Sunday in the US.

“Instead of celebrating together, he is languishing in ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detention as punishment for his advocacy on behalf of his fellow Palestinians,” Greer said in a statement.

“It is unjust, it is shocking, and it is disgraceful.”

June 11 (UPI) — Syrian national Mahmoud Khalil can’t be detained and deported due to foreign policy concerns by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a federal district court judge ruled on Wednesday.

Rubio had determined that Khalil’s presence in the United States — while organizing campus protests favoring Hamas while enrolled at Columbia University — runs counter to U.S. foreign policy.

U.S. District Court of New Jersey Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled Rubio’s determination is insufficient to warrant Khalil’s detention and deportation, NBC News and The Hill reported.

Rubio also suggested Khalil concealed his alleged connections with Hamas when he applied for a U.S. visa.

“It might be argued that [Khalil] would be detained anyway,” Farbiarz wrote.

“The Department of Homeland Security is seeking to remove [Khalil] based not only on the Secretary of State’s determination but also on … the petitioner’s alleged failure to accurately complete his lawful-permanent-resident application.”

While the DHS might have a stronger and enforceable claim to detain and deport Khalil, Farbiarz said Rubio’s determination is not enough to warrant his continued detention and eventual deportation.

Federal authorities arrested Khalil in March with the intention of deporting him, but Farbiarz said Khalil’s “career and reputation” are damaged by his arrest.

Farbiarz said Khalil has suffered “irreparable harm” but agreed the DHS might have a strong enough case to deport him because he did not accurately complete a lawful-permanent-resident application.

Such instances don’t result in individuals being detained, though, Farbiarz said.

“That strongly suggests that it is the Secretary of State’s determination that drives [Khalil’s] ongoing going detention — not the other charges against him,” the judge wrote.

He issued a preliminary injunction and ordered the Trump administration to release Khalil, but not until Friday.

The delay gives the Trump administration time to appeal the ruling.

A federal immigration judge in April ruled the Trump administration can deport Khalil.

President Joe Biden appointed Farbiarz to the federal bench in 2023.

While the ruling does not order Khalil’s immediate release, it does undermine the US government’s case against Khalil.

A federal judge in New Jersey has ruled the administration of United States President Donald Trump cannot use an obscure law to detain Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil for his pro-Palestine advocacy.

The ruling from US District Judge Michael Farbiarz on Wednesday cut to the core of the Trump administration’s justification for deporting Khalil, a permanent US resident. But it came short of ordering Khalil’s immediate release from detention.

Instead, Judge Farbiarz gave the administration until 9:30am local (13:30 GMT) on Friday to appeal. After that point, Khalil would be eligible for release on a $1 bail.

Nevertheless, the judge wrote that the administration was violating Khalil’s right to free speech by detaining and trying to deport him under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. That provision allows the secretary of state to remove foreign nationals who bear “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.

Judge Farbiarz has previously signalled he believes that provision to be unconstitutional, contradicting the right to free speech.

“The petitioner’s career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled,” Farbiarz wrote on Wednesday. “This adds up to irreparable harm.”

Khalil was arrested on March 8 after immigration agents showed up at his student apartment building at Columbia University in New York City. After his arrest, the State Department revoked his green card. He has since been held at an immigration detention centre in Louisiana.

The administration has accused Khalil, a student protest leader, of anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas, but officials have offered no evidence to support their claims, either publicly or in court files.

Critics have instead argued that the administration is using such claims to silence all forms of pro-Palestine advocacy.

Like other student protesters targeted for deportation, Khalil is challenging his deportation in immigration court, while simultaneously challenging his arrest and detention in federal proceedings.

The latter is called a habeas corpus petition, and it asserts that the Trump administration has violated his civil liberties by unlawfully keeping him behind bars.

While students in the other high-profile cases — including Mohsen Mahdawi, Rumeysa Ozturk and Badar Khan Suri — have all been released from detention as their legal proceedings move forward, a ruling in Khalil’s case has been slower coming.

In April, an immigration judge had ruled that Khalil was deportable based on the State Department’s interpretation of the 1952 law, despite a written letter from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio providing no further evidence for the allegations made against him.

Immigration judges fall under the executive branch of the US government and are generally considered less independent than judges in the judicial branch.

Also that month, immigration authorities denied Khalil’s request for temporary release for his son’s birth.

In the case before the New Jersey federal court, meanwhile, the Trump administration has argued that Khalil was not fully transparent in his green card application, something his lawyers deny. But Judge Farbiarz indicated on Wednesday that it was unusual and “overwhelmingly unlikely” for permanent residents to be detained on such grounds.

June 6 (UPI) — Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate detained by the Trump administration in March for deportation over his pro-Palestinian views, offered a public declaration that details what he’s experienced since his arrest.

In a case document filed Thursday, Khalil listed what he described as the “irreparable harms” he has suffered, which he claimed have affected several parts of his life that “include dignitary and reputational harm, personal and familial hardship, including constant fear for personal safety, continued detention, restrictions on my freedom of expression, and severe damage to my professional future.”

The declaration, which was made from inside the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, La., where Khalil has been held since March 9, puts focus on the birth of his son, which happened during his incarceration.

“Instead of holding my wife’s hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone.” Khalil described.

“I listened to her pain, trying to comfort her while 70 other men slept around me. When I heard my son’s first cries, I buried my face in my arms so no one would see me weep.”

Khalil described that the first time he saw his son was through a window, and the first time he held him was in an immigration courtroom, to which his wife had to travel ten hours to reach, with their newborn.

“I speak to her as often as possible, but these conversations are not private, everything is monitored by the government,” Khalil said, which makes it impossible for them to comfortably speak freely.

“We leave so much unsaid, and that silence weighs heavily on both of us.”

Khalil said that not only has the situation been “devastating” for him, but that his wife has dealt with harassment since his arrest. Khalil further described the anguish of seeing Trump administration officials post statements and photos of him on social media that he purports as “accompanied by inflammatory language, grotesque and false accusations, and open celebration of my deportation.”

Khalil expressed concern for his future as well. He said he was hired by the nonprofit equality-focused Oxfam International group only days before his arrest as a Palestine and Middle East/ North Africa policy advisor, and was scheduled to start work in April, but the job offer was formally revoked. He says “I strongly believe” his arrest and continued detention is the reason for this.

He added that should the charges against him stand, “the harm to my professional career would be career-ending.”

Khalil further worried his arrest would result in a lifetime of “being flagged, delayed, or denied when traveling, applying for visas, or engaging with consular authorities anywhere in the world,” and not just him, but his wife and son.

His mother had also applied for a visa in March to visit the United States to see their child be born, and although that was approved, the U.S. embassy returned her passport without a stamp, and now her case is under “administrative processing,” and remains unapproved. Khalil’s elderly father, whom he describes as “severely disabled,” lives in Germany, and he ponders whether any country allied with the United States will ever grant him entry should the charges stand.

Khalil detailed the allegations under which he has been held for deportation, which not only did he deny as testimony at his May immigration court hearing, at which he purports “The government attorneys did not ask me any questions regarding these issues.”

However, Khalil maintained his greatest concern of all is a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio based on a law that an “alien” can be deported should his presence in the United States “have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”

“I understand that the Rubio Determination is not only a ground for deportation, but it is also a bar to entry,” said Khalil.

“In other words, no matter what happens to the other charge against me, it is the Rubio Determination that will make this country, the country of my wife and child, a country I cannot return to in the future.”