Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from immigration detention

JENA: Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released Friday from federal immigration detention, freed after 104 days by a judge's ruling after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests.
The former Columbia University graduate student left a federal facility in Louisiana on Friday. He is expected to head to New York to reunite with his U.S. citizen wife and infant son, born while Khalil was detained.
"Justice prevailed, but it's very long overdue," he said outside the facility in a remote part of Louisiana. "This shouldn't have taken three months."
The Trump administration is seeking to deport Khalil over his role in pro-Palestinian protests. He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan.
Khalil was released after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be "highly, highly unusual" for the government to continue detaining a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn't been accused of any violence.
"Petitioner is not a flight risk, and the evidence presented is that he is not a danger to the community," he said. "Period, full stop."
During an hourlong hearing conducted by phone, the New Jersey-based judge said the government had "clearly not met" the standards for detention.
The government filed notice Friday evening that it's appealing Khalil's release.

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