Judge Orders Columbia University Activist’s Release From Immigration Detention

Topline

Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil will be released on bail from a Louisiana immigration detention facility Friday, more than three months after he was arrested, as a judge granted the activist’s release after a ruling found the Trump administration could not lawfully detain or deport him under the main argument they used to justify his arrest.

Pro-Palestine demonstrators hold a rally on April 5 in Washington, D.C.

Corbis via Getty Images

Key Facts

Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled following a hearing Friday that Khalil can be released on bail, according to multiple outlets, determining Khalil is not a flight risk or a danger to the community.

Farbiarz ordered Khalil to be released from detention on Friday, rejecting the Trump administration’s request to delay his release by a week so that they could appeal the ruling.

The judge previously found the Trump administration couldn’t detain Khalil based on its primary argument—that his detention was necessary because it posed a risk to foreign policy—but the government was still trying to keep him imprisoned on a smaller secondary accusation on failing to provide some information on his green card application, which Farbiarz noted is not usually grounds for detention.

Khalil has been in prison since he was first arrested March 8 at his New York City residence, and President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio pointed to Khalil’s pro-Palestinian activism as the reason behind his arrest, with Rubio saying, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

The Columbia University activist’s case has been tied up in court since, and while court previously rebuffed the Trump administration’s effort to have legal proceedings moved from New Jersey to Louisiana—where they’d likely be heard by a more Trump-friendly judge—no judge had yet ordered Khalil’s release.

Khalil’s wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, praised the court’s decision in a statement Friday, saying, “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 [Khalil’s newborn son] Deen, who never should have been separated from his father.”

Crucial Quote

“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,” Abdalla said Friday. “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.”

What To Watch For

Khalil’s legal case is ongoing, though under Friday’s ruling he will no longer be detained while it plays out. The Trump administration suggested in court Friday it will appeal Farbiarz’s order directing Khalil’s release, though it remains to be seen if a higher court could rule in the government’s favor. Khalil’s case was also the first of a number of cases over immigrants on student visas whom the Trump administration has targeted over their pro-Palestinian activism, many of which are still playing out in court.

Who Is Mahmoud Khalil?

Khalil is a Columbia University graduate student who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, but now resides in the U.S. as a permanent resident with a green card. He is married to a U.S. citizen, who had the couple’s first child while Khalil was in detention. Khalil gained attention during the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year, where he became one of the public faces of the protest who spoke to the media and mediated with the school. The activist’s wife said he was arrested in March after threats and misinformation had been spread about him in the days leading up to his arrest, with his wife telling the New York Daily News that Khalil had requested legal support from Columbia because he was “fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual may come to my home.” The university did not respond to the request, and Khalil was ultimately arrested as he and his wife arrived to their university-owned residence on March 8. Khalil was initially detained in New Jersey before being transported to the immigration detention facility in Louisiana that he’s been held in since.

Why Was Mahmoud Khalil Detained?

Khalil was initially detained by the Trump administration under a rarely used provision of federal law, which allows the Secretary of State to deport anyone who poses “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” The provision has since been used to target other pro-Palestinian activists, with Politico noting Farbiarz’s decision invalidating Khalil’s detention was part of a string of court decisions that have struck down the Trump administration’s use of the statute.

Key Background

Khalil’s arrest and subsequent detention has been a flashpoint within the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on immigration, as the government has broadly moved forward with mass deportations and detentions of both undocumented and documented immigrants. The activist’s March 8 arrest was the first in what became a broad campaign by the Trump administration against international students, as the government initially took aim at specific pro-Palestinian activists like Khalil before taking broader steps like revoking many student visas, barring Harvard University’s international students and temporarily stopping all interviews for new student visa applications. Courts have since blocked many of those restrictions, and the Trump administration said Wednesday it will resume student visa applications, but will vet applicants’ social media profiles. Columbia, was the epicenter of the nationwide pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses last year, has also become a prime target for the Trump administration, which has slashed its funding to the school and targeted its accreditation over allegations the university discriminated against Jewish students.