DayofPal– A federal judge has ordered the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student leader at Columbia University, after more than three months in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention.
The decision comes amid mounting criticism over what civil liberties advocates are calling a politically motivated crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism.
Khalil, a lawful permanent resident of the United States, was arrested in March by plainclothes ICE agents who entered his Columbia-owned residence without a warrant.
The agents initially claimed that Khalil’s visa had been revoked; when he informed them he held a green card, they said that had been revoked as well. His attorney, Amy Greer, who was on the phone during the arrest, demanded to see a warrant, ICE agents hung up on her instead.
Following his arrest, Khalil was transferred over 1,000 miles to a detention center in Louisiana. Despite claiming Khalil was a flight risk, government officials admitted they had no warrant. Security footage from the arrest showed Khalil cooperating peacefully.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz granted Khalil bail and sharply criticized the government’s handling of the case, calling the detention “highly, highly unusual.”
In his ruling, Farbiarz stated, “There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish Mr. Khalil. And of course that would be unconstitutional.”
Khalil was never charged with a crime. The Trump administration initially justified his arrest under the rarely invoked claim that his activism was “compromising U.S. foreign policy”, a designation made directly by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Earlier this month, Judge Farbiarz blocked the administration from using that reasoning to continue Khalil’s detention or initiate deportation proceedings, stating that it was causing “irreparable harm.”
Last week, the government shifted its approach, alleging Khalil had misrepresented his employment history on his green card application. But the judge found those claims insufficient to justify continued detention.
During his time in custody, Khalil missed the birth of his first child and Columbia’s graduation ceremonies. ICE denied his repeated requests to be relocated closer to his wife and newborn.
Khalil is among several international students and academics arrested in a broader federal crackdown on anti-genocide and pro-Palestinian activism on U.S. campuses.
Others swept up in similar arrests include Mohsen Mahdawi, Rümeysa Öztürk, and Badar Khan Suri. Their cases remain ongoing. Now released, Khalil will be allowed to fight his immigration case from outside of detention.
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