Mahmoud Khalil 'not a danger to the community,' says U.S. judge in ordering release of student protester
Social Sharing
A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. government to free former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from the immigration detention centre where he has been held since early March while the Trump administration sought to deport him over his role in pro-Palestinian protests.
Ruling from the bench in New Jersey, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be "highly, highly unusual" for the government to continue to detain a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn't been accused of any violence.
In reaching his decision, Farbiarz said Khalil is likely not a flight risk and "is not a danger to the community. Period, full stop."
He ordered Khalil released from a detention centre in rural Louisiana later Friday. The government had "clearly not met" the standards for detention, he said later in the hourlong hearing, which took place by phone.
Khalil was the first arrest under U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Khalil must be expelled from the country because his continued presence could harm American foreign policy.
Farbiarz had ruled earlier that the government couldn't deport Khalil on those grounds, but gave it leeway to continue pursuing a potential deportation based on allegations that he lied on his green card application. Khalil disputes the accusations that he wasn't forthcoming on the application.
Khalil's lawyers had asked that he either be freed on bail or, at the very least, moved from a Louisiana jail to New Jersey so he can be closer to his wife and newborn son, who are both U.S. citizens.
Palestinian student activist detained by U.S. immigration agents
3 months ago
Duration 1:59
Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student in the country legally, was arrested by U.S. immigration agents and faces possible deportation for his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests. It's one of the first known arrests linked to the Trump administration's threats against student activists.
Detained over participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations
The judge noted Khalil is now clearly a public figure given his prominence during the campus protests and since his detainment.
He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. His lawyers say the Trump administration is simply trying to crack down on free speech.
Khalil isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The international affairs graduate student served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists.
He wasn't among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics.
The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country as it considers their views antisemitic.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
U.S. judge blocks National Science Foundation from slashing universities' federal funding
A federal judge on Friday prevented the National Science Foundation from sharply cutting research funding provided to universities in the latest legal setback to efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to slash government support of research at major academic institutions. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston invalidated a policy NSF adopted in May that limited the ability of universities to be reimbursed for administrative and facility costs that indirectly support grant-funded research, ruling that it was 'arbitrary and capricious.' Spokespeople for NSF and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling. NSF, a US$9 billion agency that funds scientific research, adopted the policy after having already canceled hundreds of grants out of step with the Republican president's priorities. His administration has also been freezing billions of dollars in government funding for numerous universities, including Harvard. NSF's policy, which was announced on May 2, set a cap on how much grant funding could go to cover indirect costs. NSF said funding for such costs could equal no more than 15% of the funding for direct research costs, regardless of what the costs actually were at universities. Historically, universities had negotiated with NSF and other agencies over the rate at which indirect costs could be reimbursed. The cap meant that for every $100 in funding going directly to a research grant award, universities would receive just $15 to cover overhead, such as the costs of maintaining lab space and paying for electricity and staff. The Trump administration said it sought through the policy to rein in spending on administrative overhead, which had grown to consume US$1.07 billion of NSF's annual US$4.22 billion grant-making budget for higher education institutions. That rate, though, is significantly lower than the indirect cost that many of the 69 research universities belonging to Association of American Universities had negotiated, which was often in the 50 per cent to 65 per cent range, the group's lawyers said. Talwani, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said in her Friday decision that the administration's 15 per cent rate was unlawful. The association along with two other academic trade groups and 13 schools sued in May to block the policy, after earlier convincing judges in Boston to block similar funding cuts at the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Energy. The association did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Friday decision. Among the schools that challenged NSF's funding cuts were the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Brown University, the University of California, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania. They argued that NSF's action, if allowed to stand, 'will badly undermine scientific research at America's universities and erode our nation's enviable status as a global leader in scientific research and innovation.' The U.S. Department of Defense has since also adopted a 15 per cent cap, which a judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked pending a hearing on July 2. He did so a day after a different judge in Boston ordered NIH to reinstate hundreds of grants for research on diversity-related topics nixed as part of the administration's purge of initiatives viewed as supporting 'diversity, equity and inclusion.'
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from immigration detention
JENA, La. (AP) — Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released Friday from federal immigration detention, freed after three months 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 newborn son.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Panama suspends constitutional protections in the northwest after destructive protests
Anti-government protesters block a highway in the Indigenous Embera community of Arimae, Panama, Thursday, June 5, 2025, during a demonstration against a pension reform law and a security agreement with the United States involving the Panama Canal.(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) PANAMA CITY — Panama suspended constitutional protections for five days in its northwestern Bocas del Toro province Friday after two months of protests and road blockades turned more destructive the previous night. Presidential Minister Juan Carlos Orillac said in a news conference that the move would allow the government to reestablish order and 'rescue the province' from 'radical groups.' What began as nationwide protests against changes to the social security system morphed Thursday night into people damaging the local airport and the facilities of banana giant Chiquita Brands, which fired thousands of striking workers in the province last month. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino had said at the time that the banana workers' strike was illegal and included some 5,000 workers. On May 27, the government declared a state of emergency in the province without suspending constitutional protections. But actions by masked people authorities described as criminals overnight led Mulino to announce Thursday night that he would meet with his Cabinet Friday to take action. The perpetrators forced their way into the airport in Changuinola, Bocas del Toro's main city, where they vandalized cars and started a fire in the local baseball stadium. They sacked Chiquita's shuttered facility and destroyed a local office of the National Civil Defense Service. Protests, marches and occasional roadblocks have stretched from one end of the country to the other as teachers, construction workers and other unions rejected changes the government said were necessary to keep the social security system solvent. Demonstrations have occasionally turned violent, but the forced entrance of people to the airport and banana facility overnight triggered Friday's government reaction. Earlier this month, Mulino brought in a Catholic archbishop and a rabbi to act as mediators with protesters. Last week, Panama's Congress approved a new law for the banana sector that was part of an agreement to end the strike by protecting workers' benefits like medical assistance and labor protections under the new social security regime. By Alma Solís And Juan Zamorano.
