A federal judge has ordered the release of Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil more than three months after he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Khalil is an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent who is a permanent U.S. resident. He gained notoriety for his work as a nonviolent activist at Columbia University, where he negotiated on behalf of the school’s pro-Palestinian protesters.
After a protracted battle over Khalil’s fate, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz determined that the government had failed to make a case that he posed a threat.
“What all that evidence adds up to is a lack of violence, a lack of property destruction, a lack of anything that might be characterized as incitement to violence,” wrote Farbiarz.
The ruling overrides a concurrent judgment from Jena, La., where Khalil has been held, that would continue his detention.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued that deporting Khalil is in the interest of Jewish students in the U.S., a reflection of the confluence of opposition to the actions of the Israeli government and a rise in American antisemitism.
“The foreign policy of the United States champions core American interests and American citizens and condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” wrote Rubio.
Supporters and Khalil’s lawyers have argued that he is being targeted by the Trump administration for exercising his right to free speech.
“The government’s latest actions confirm what we’ve alleged in this petition all along, that retaliatory detention is the government’s goal, that 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 and viewpoint,” said Alina Das, an attorney for Kahlil.
