Latest news with #Khalil
Boston Globe
31 minutes ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Judge orders Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from detention
Khalil was the first arrest under President Donald Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel's devastating 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. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Farbiarz had ruled earlier that the government can't continue to hold Khalil on those grounds, but the government argued the legal U.S. resident was instead being held based on allegations that he lied on his green card application. Khalil disputes the accusations that he wasn't forthcoming on the application. Advertisement Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, 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. Advertisement The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country as it considers their views antisemitic.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
US judge orders release of pro-Palestinian activist Khalil
FILE PHOTO: Protesters supporting Mahmoud Khalil march in Manhattan, the day after a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Columbia student Khalil, who led pro-Palestinian student protests on campus, can be deported, in New York City, New York, U.S., April 12, 2025. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators gather on the day of a hearing on the detention of Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, outside the Federal Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo FILE PHOTO: A display in honor of Mahmoud Khalil sits on stage at the People's Graduation, hosted for Khalil and other students unable to participate in Columbia and New York University's commencement ceremony, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, U.S., May 18, 2025. REUTERS/Angelina Katsanis/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Dr. Noor Abdalla, wife of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who remains in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana after being detained in early March for his involvement in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, holds up a 'Release Mahmoud Khalil Now' protest sticker while posing for a portrait in New York City, U.S., May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Angelina Katsanis/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Mahmoud Khalil speaks to members of media about the Revolt for Rafah encampment at Columbia University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, in New York City, U.S., June 1, 2024. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo NEW YORK - A U.S. judge ordered on Friday that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil be released immediately from immigration custody, a major victory for rights groups that challenged what they called the Trump administration's unlawful targeting of a pro-Palestinian activist. Khalil, a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war on Gaza, was arrested by immigration agents in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan on March 8. President Donald Trump, a Republican, has called the protests antisemitic and vowed to deport foreign students who took part. Khalil became the first target of this policy. After hearing oral arguments from lawyers for Khalil and for the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, New Jersey, ordered DHS to release him from custody at a jail for immigrants in rural Louisiana by as soon as 6:30 pm (7:30 ET) on Friday. Farbiarz said the government had made no attempt to rebut evidence provided by Khalil's lawyers that he was not a flight risk nor a danger to the public. "There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner (Khalil)," Farbiarz said as he ruled from the bench, adding that punishing someone over a civil immigration matter was unconstitutional. Khalil was the latest in a string of foreign pro-Palestinian students arrested in the U.S. starting in March who have subsequently been released by a judge. They include Mohsen Mahdawi and Rumeysya Ozturk. Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., says he is being punished for his political speech in violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. Khalil condemned antisemitism and racism in interviews with CNN and other news outlets last year. The Syrian-born activist plans to return to New York to be with his wife Dr. Noor Abdalla and their infant son who was born during Khalil's 104 days in detention. 'This ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others," Abdalla said in a statement. "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." The White House condemned the decision to release Khalil, saying he should be deported for "conduct detrimental to American foreign policy interests" and fraudulently obtaining a student visa. "There is no basis for a local federal judge in New Jersey —who lacks jurisdiction — to order Khalil's release from a detention facility in Louisiana," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "We expect to be vindicated on appeal." Even though a federal judge ordered Khalil be freed, the immigration proceedings against him continue. The Louisiana immigration judge in his case on Friday denied his asylum request, ruled he could be deported based on the government's allegations of immigration fraud, and denied a bail hearing. Farbiarz's decision rendered the bail request moot. Like others facing deportation, Khalil has avenues to appeal within the immigration system. Farbiarz is also considering Khalil's challenge of his deportation on constitutional grounds, and has blocked officials from deporting Khalil while that challenge plays out. Earlier this month, Farbiarz ruled the government was violating Khalil's free speech rights by detaining him under a little-used law granting the U.S. secretary of state power to seek deportation of non-citizens whose presence in the country was deemed adverse to U.S. foreign policy interests. On June 13, the judge declined to order Khalil's release from a detention center in Jena, Louisiana, after Trump's administration said Khalil was being held on a separate charge that he withheld information from his application for lawful permanent residency. Khalil's lawyers deny that allegation and say people are rarely detained on such charges. On June 16, they urged Farbiarz to grant a separate request from their client to be released on bail or be transferred to immigration detention in New Jersey to be closer to his family in New York. At Friday's hearing, Farbiarz said it was "highly unusual" for the government to jail an immigrant accused of omissions in his application for U.S. permanent residency. Khalil, 30, became a U.S. permanent resident last year, and his wife and newborn son are U.S. citizens. Trump administration lawyers wrote in a June 17 filing that Khalil's request for release should be addressed to the judge overseeing his immigration case, an administrative process over whether he can be deported, rather than to Farbiarz, who is considering whether Khalil's March 8 arrest and subsequent detention were constitutional. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Deccan Herald
an hour ago
- Politics
- Deccan Herald
US judge orders release of pro-Palestinian activist Khalil
Khalil, a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war on Gaza, was arrested by immigration agents in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan on March 8.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Pro-Palestinian foreigners in US arrested by Trump administration and ordered to be released
FILE PHOTO: Protesters supporting Mahmoud Khalil rally in Times Square, the day after a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Columbia student Khalil, who led pro-Palestinian student protests on campus, can be deported, in New York City, New York, U.S., April 12, 2025. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo Pro-Palestinian foreigners in US arrested by Trump administration and ordered to be released WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's administration has faced judicial roadblocks while attempting to deport foreign pro-Palestinian students and protesters in the U.S., including on Friday when a judge ordered that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil be released from immigration custody. Trump has labeled the protesters as antisemitic and extremist sympathizers. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel's assault on Gaza with antisemitism and their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism. Here are some prominent pro-Palestinian foreigners in the U.S. who were arrested without being charged with a crime, and subsequently ordered to be released by a judge: MAHMOUD KHALIL A prominent figure at Columbia University's pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war on Gaza, Khalil was arrested by immigration agents in the lobby of his Manhattan university residence on March 8. Khalil, a Palestinian born and raised in a refugee camp in Syria, is a U.S. legal permanent resident and says he was punished for his political speech in violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, which protects free speech rights. Khalil has previously condemned antisemitism and racism. His wife and son, who was born while Khalil was in prison, are U.S. citizens. In ordering Khalil's release on June 20, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said the government made no attempt to rebut evidence provided by Khalil's lawyers that he was not a flight risk nor a danger to the public. MOHSEN MAHDAWI Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was released from U.S. immigration custody on April 30. Mahdawi, born and raised in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was arrested earlier in April as he arrived for an interview for his U.S. citizenship petition. U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said Mahdawi did not pose a danger to the public and was not a flight risk. The judge drew parallels between the current U.S. political climate and the Red Scare and McCarthyism eras of the last century when thousands were targeted for deportation due to political views. RUMEYSA OZTURK Turkish Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was released in early May after being held in an immigration detention center for over six weeks. Her lawyers said she was punished for co-authoring an opinion piece in a student newspaper that criticized the school's response to calls by students to divest from companies linked to Israel and to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide." U.S. District Judge William Sessions said Ozturk, whose arrest video went viral, had raised a substantial claim that the sole reason she was being detained was "simply and purely the expression that she made or shared in the op-ed in violation of her First Amendment rights." BADAR KHAN SURI A postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, Suri was released in mid-May, nearly two months after being taken into custody by federal immigration agents. Suri, who is from India and was on a U.S. student visa, is married to an American citizen who is from Gaza. Suri's lawyer denied the government's allegations that he supported Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Japan Today
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Judge orders Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from detention
FILE - Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File) By PHILIP MARCELO A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. government to free former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from the immigration detention center 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, he 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 center 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 President Donald Trump 's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel's devastating 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. 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. The judge noted Khalil has no criminal record and the government has put forward no evidence to suggest he's been involved in violence or property destruction. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
