Egypt Daily News – A U.S. judge on Friday ordered the release of Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration detention center. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz issued his decision from the bench of a federal court in New Jersey on Friday.
Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, had requested a federal judge to release him immediately on bail from a prison in Louisiana, or to transfer him to New Jersey to be closer to his wife and newborn child.
Farbiarz had previously stated that the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Khalil were likely unconstitutional.
First student
Khalil was arrested on March 8 after the U.S. State Department revoked his green card under a rarely used provision of U.S. immigration law that gives the Secretary of State authority to request the deportation of any non-citizen whose presence is deemed harmful to U.S. foreign policy interests. Khalil is currently being held by immigration authorities in Louisiana.
He was the first known international student to be detained as part of Donald Trump’s efforts to deport foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests that swept U.S. universities following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military response.
Supports Hamas… but no evidence
Former U.S. President Donald Trump claimed in a previous social media post—without providing evidence that the 30-year-old Khalil supports Hamas. However, the U.S. government did not charge him with any crime, nor did it present evidence supporting the alleged link to the group.
The administration argued instead that the graduate student’s presence in the United States “conflicts with national interests and foreign policy.”
Trump described the student protest movement opposing Israel as anti-Semitic, and said Khalil’s arrest “is the first of many more to come.”
Khalil was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, holds Algerian citizenship, and legally obtained permanent residency in the United States last year.
Israel’s war on Gaza last year sparked a wide student protest movement across U.S. universities, which led to the removal of several university officials and involved clashes with security and police in some cases.
