A federal judge on Friday mandated that the Trump Administration release Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist, from immigration detention. Khalil had been detained for over three months. The judge’s decision was based on the belief that Khalil’s detention likely violated his constitutional right to free speech.
This ruling is a major win for Khalil, a legal permanent resident and former student at Columbia University. He was the first activist arrested and detained by the Trump Administration earlier this year as part of their efforts to combat alleged antisemitism.
U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz stated that the government did not prove Khalil was a flight risk or a danger to the community. He also questioned if the government’s changing reasons for detention were a way to retaliate against Khalil’s publicly expressed views.
The ruling is another legal setback for the Trump Administration, which has been using an infrequently used part of immigration law. This provision allows the Secretary of State to remove non-citizens considered a threat to U.S. foreign policy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Khalil in a March memo of participating in “antisemitic protests” and creating a “hostile environment for Jewish students.”
Khalil’s legal team argued that the government misrepresented his views and highlighted his numerous public statements condemning antisemitism and supporting unity between Jewish and Palestinian communities. Khalil stated in an interview referenced in court, “The liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand in hand.”
Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at his New York residence on March 8 and has not been charged with any crime. Initially, the government justified his detention using the foreign policy provision. However, Judge Farbiarz deemed this provision likely unconstitutional last month because it was too vague. Afterward, prosecutors claimed Khalil made errors on his green card application. Farbiarz dismissed this reasoning, pointing out that immigrants are “virtually never” detained solely for paperwork errors.
This decision allows Khalil to go back to his New York home, where his wife, Noor Abdalla, recently gave birth to their first child. He missed this event while detained at an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana. Abdalla stated that the ruling was a “sigh of relief” but also mentioned that it “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.”
Even though the judge ordered Khalil’s release, the Trump Administration could still try to deport him. An immigration judge in Louisiana has already decided that he can be removed from the U.S. as a national security risk, a decision his legal team is contesting.
Khalil’s case has become representative of the Trump Administration’s stance on dissent within college campuses. Since his arrest, several international students and academics have been targeted using the foreign policy statute. Judges have ordered the release of others, including Georgetown researcher Badar Khan Suri, Tufts Ph.D. candidate Rumeysa Ozturk, and fellow Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi, all of whom were subsequently freed.
In each of these cases, courts have questioned whether the Administration was using immigration enforcement to punish political speech, particularly criticism of Israel.
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