Palestinian children crowd Gaza charity kitchen for food
Hungry Palestinian children crowd a charity kitchen with pots and pans in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Friday. A day earlier, desperate Gazans broke into a U.N. World Food Program aid warehouse in central Gaza, resulting in two reported deaths.
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Mahmoud Khalil released from Louisiana jail after 3+ months in ICE custody
A federal judge granted his release on bail, ruling the Trump administration was punishing him over his pro-Palestinian speech.
UPI
29 minutes ago
- UPI
Ex-Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil released from ICE detention after judge's order
Pro-Palestinian protesters hold flags and signs seekingh the release of Mahmoud Khaul in New York City on March 10. He was arrested three days earlier and held in Louisiana until his release Friday that was ordered by a federal judge. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo June 20 (UPI) -- Former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil on Friday night was freed from federal detention in central Louisiana after a federal judge ordered his release. In Newark, N.J., U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said that prosecutors didn't provide a legitimate justification for 104 days of detention since March 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Syrian national organized campus protests favoring Hamas while enrolled at Columbia University in New York City, which runs counter to U.S. foreign policy. Farbiarz, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said it was "highly, highly unusual" the government still wanted him detained. "Together, they suggest that there is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner - and, of course, that would be unconstitutional," the judge said. He was ordered to surrender his passport and travel documents, and restricted to four states and Washington, D.C. While in detention, Khalil missed the birth of his first child in New York in April, and he was allowed to hold him while in custody in May. His wife is a U.S. citizen. Just before 8 p.m. CDT, Khalil walked out of the detention center in Jena, La., about 220 miles northwest of New Orleans, with his lawyers and wearing a kaffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. He said no person "should actually be detained for protesting a genocide," Khalil said. "Justice will prevail." "After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father," Dr. Noor Abdalla, Mahmoud Khalil's wife, said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. "We know this ruling 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. But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family, and the community that has supported us since the day he was unjustly taken for speaking out for Palestinian freedom." Alina Das, one of Khalil's lawyers and co-director of New York University's Immigrant Rights Clinic, said: "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." After the birth of his son Deen, he wrote: "During your first moments, I buried my face in my arms and kept my voice low so that the 70 other men sleeping in this concrete room would not see my cloudy eyes or hear my voice catch. I feel suffocated by my rage and the cruelty of a system that deprived your mother and me of sharing this experience. Why do faceless politicians have the power to strip human beings of their divine moments? "Since that morning, I have come to recognize the look in the eyes of every father in this detention center. I sit here contemplating the immensity of your birth and wonder how many more firsts will be sacrificed to the whims of the US government, which denied me even the chance of furlough to attend your birth." He was arrested outside student housing on the campus. On June 11, Farbiarz ordered Khalil's release after determining that the government could no longer detain him over the claim he is a threat to the country's foreign policy. Then two days later, Trump administration said Khalil could be detained because they said he kept some prior work off his application for permanent residency. The judge allowed the detention to continue. The Justice Department wanted him detained until an immigration judge could weigh the matter, claiming tFarbiarz does not have jurisdiction. Farbiarz said it would be a "waste of time" to send the case to an immigration judge who would likely reach his same conclusion. Other pro-Palestinian activists have also been released as their immigration cases go through the courts. In April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a memo, citing an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The secretary of state can deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the country would result in "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States." The arrest was carried out by the ICE, which is part of Homeland Security. Khalil, who was born in 1995, grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and was granted permanent U.S. resident status. H
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Mahmoud Khalil released from federal immigration detention
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released from federal immigration detention on Friday following a judge's ruling, the Associated Press reported. Khalil, a lawful permanent resident and lead negotiator for the encampment at Columbia University while he was a student, was detained more than three months ago as the first case in a wave of crackdowns against foreign students involved in campus protests. 'My priority now is to get back to my wife and son,' Khalil told reporters after his release. 'Although justice prevailed, it is very long overdue.' As a condition of his release, Khalil must surrender his passport and cannot travel internationally. His movement within the United States will be restricted to New York and Michigan to visit family, Washington to lobby Congress, and New Jersey and Louisiana for court appearances. A judge ordered earlier Friday that Khalil should be released, calling it 'highly, highly unusual' that the government still sought to detain him. 'Together, they suggest that there is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner — and, of course, that would be unconstitutional,' the judge, Michael Farbiarz, wrote in his ruling. The Trump administration had argued that Khalil could be deported under a rarely-used law that allows them to do so if they determined his presence in the country would have significant negative consequences for American foreign policy. Khalil has not been charged with a crime. Farbiarz had previously held that the government could not continue to hold Khalil under the determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. However, the judge allowed his detention to continue under a claim by the administration that Khalil had omitted some prior work experience from his green card application. Khalil's release follows the releases of several students apparently detained for pro-Palestine speech, including fellow Columbia alum Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested at his citizenship interview, and Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk, who co-wrote an opinion in her campus newspaper calling for divestment from Israel. Khalil's arrest on March 8 was the first shot from the Trump administration in a dramatic salvo against international student visas. The administration has since declared it will ask student visa applicants to make their social media accounts available for inspection. Also on Friday, a judge indefinitely blocked the government's move to bar Harvard University from being able to enroll international students. The Associated Press contributed to this report. This is a developing story.
