A federal judge in the United States ruled on Wednesday that the Trump administration cannot detain and deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist from Colombia, citing U.S. foreign policy interests as the reason. However, the judge did not order Khalil’s immediate release. The decision was made by District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey.
Judge Farbiarz’s ruling stated that the government had detained Khalil and attempted to deport him under a rarely used provision of U.S. immigration law, which violated Khalil’s freedom of speech. The provision grants the U.S. Secretary of State the power to request the deportation of any non-citizen if their presence in the U.S. is deemed detrimental to U.S. foreign policy interests.
“The petitioner’s profession and reputation are being damaged, and his speech is being suppressed,” wrote Farbiarz. “This constitutes irreparable harm.”
The judge also prohibited the government from deporting Khalil on the grounds that his residency may be detrimental to U.S. foreign policy interests.
Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, expressed relief on Wednesday, stating, “This is the news we have been waiting for over three months. Mahmoud must be released immediately and safely returned to our home in New York to reunite with me and our newborn son, Deen.”
Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University in New York, was arrested on March 8 and became the first foreign student detained by the Trump administration following protests in support of Palestine on U.S. campuses last year. He is one of the few individuals still in custody during the legal proceedings.
Federal authorities did not charge Khalil with any crimes but sought to deport him. His green card has been revoked by the U.S. State Department.
Following Khalil’s arrest by immigration agents, he was initially taken to an immigration detention center in New Jersey overnight, then flown back to New York en route to Louisiana. He has been held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana ever since.
Khalil’s lawyers initially filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York, but District Judge Jesse Furman ruled in mid-March that the case should be heard in New Jersey instead of New York or Louisiana because Khalil was first taken into custody in New Jersey.
In late May, as per Farbiarz’s ruling, Khalil had a “contact visit” where he was able to hold his one-month-old son for the first time.
Lawyers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argued that Khalil’s claims of freedom of speech were a “red herring,” accusing the 30-year-old student of lying in his visa application.
(Information sourced from Reuters)