A New Jersey federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from deporting or continuing to detain Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
In his ruling issued on Wednesday, Judge Michael Farbiarz is barring the administration from seeking to remove Khalil based on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s determination that his continued presence in the country would pose a risk to foreign policy.
The judge is staying his injunction until 9:30 a.m. Friday to allow the Department of Homeland Security time to appeal the decision.
Khalil, a green card holder who is married to an American citizen, has been held in a Louisiana detention facility since ICE agents arrested him in the lobby of his apartment building in New York City on March 8.
In April, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Khalil is deportable based on Rubio’s assertion that his continued presence and actions in the country pose an “adverse foreign policy consequence.” The judge has yet to rule on a second set of charges which stem from DHS’ allegations that Khalil withheld information on his green card application.
But Farbiarz stated in his ruling that lawful permanent residents, like Khalil, who are accused of making misrepresentations on their applications are “virtually never detained pending removal.”
Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024.
Ted Shaffrey/AP, FILE
Officials from President Donald Trump’s administration have said Khalil was detained for his purported support of Hamas — a claim his legal team has rejected.
In a memo filed in the case, Rubio wrote that Khalil should be deported because of his alleged role in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”
During a hearing last month in Louisiana, Khalil testified in support of his case for asylum and for withholding of removal to either Algeria or Syria, where he grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp.
He repeatedly stated that the Trump administration’s accusations that he’s a Hamas supporter makes him a target for Israel in any country he could be deported to. In Syria, he also said remnants of the Assad regime as well as military factions within the country could target him or that he could be used as a “bargaining chip” in negotiations between the new Syrian government and other nations including the U.S.
Ahead of the hearing, Khalil’s attorney submitted over 600 pages of documents, declarations and expert analyses supporting their claim that he is not antisemitic and that he could face torture and death if he were to be deported.