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Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist being held in an immigration detention center in Louisiana, are fighting to have the case heard in New Jersey. Khalil remains in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, as President Trump’s administration seeks to deport him.The Southern District of New York ruled last week the case should be heard in New Jersey, where Khalil was detained when his attorneys filed a petition on his behalf. The federal government then filed a motion to keep him in custody in Louisiana and have the case proceed from there.”The government’s motivation here is to delay, and as much as possible, the adjudication of the actual legality of their unconstitutional actions,” Khalil’s attorney, Baher Azmy, said.At a hearing Friday at a courthouse in Newark about where the case will be held, the judge did not issue a ruling but said he would respond quickly.
Khalil’s attorneys have also filed motions related to bail and stopping him from being moved anywhere else. Attorneys for the Department of Justice said they have no plans to move him from Louisiana.The judge said he would not rule on the issue of bail until after the jurisdiction is determined. “This is a case where the United States government has created a policy targeting Palestinian activists, and specifically Mahmoud Khalil, for arrest, detention and potential removal, because the United States government disagrees with his constitutionally protected right to dissent from U.S. foreign policy,” Azmy said.When asked for comment, the DOJ said, “The department declines to comment beyond our arguments and filings in court.”
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse, saying they are less concerned about the location of the case and more that Khalil remains in custody. “What’s at stake right now in the U.S. is everybody’s right to free speech. We need to be clear that this is a crackdown on everyone, not just the Palestine movement,” one person said. “Mahmoud Khalil is not alone, we are here and we will not be silent. We demand his release, we demand an end to the targeting of activists,” said another.”Taken away from me in the middle of the night”The 30-year-old father-to-be was arrested earlier this month when ICE agents came to his university-owned apartment building in Manhattan. “My husband was taken away from me in the middle of the night,” his wife, Noor Abdalla, told CBS News Sunday Morning. “It was one of the most terrifying times of my life. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything scarier than that.”He was taken to a New York field office, then to Elizabeth, New Jersey, then flown to Louisiana.Khalil is a Palestinian born in Syria and has a green card, or legal permanent residency. He is not charged with any crimes.
After he was taken into custody, the government said it was invoking a rarely used section of U.S. immigration law to justify his detention and possible deportation. The law allows the secretary of state to subject noncitizens to deportation if their actions threaten foreign policy interest. ICE arrests stretch from Columbia to other universitiesKhalil was a prominent figure during last year’s pro-Palestinian encampment on Columbia’s main lawn in Morningside Heights. He was not among the hundreds of people arrested during the protests, but the White House alleges his actions were in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group. CBS News has not found evidence that Khalil has said he supports Hamas. In a court filing earlier this week, the government also said he failed to disclose some of his work history on his immigration paperwork, including an internship with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, the Syria office of the British embassy in Beruit and a group known as Columbia University Apartheid Divest. In the weeks since Khalil’s arrest, other students and faculty at Cornell, Georgetown, Brown and Tufts universities have also been targeted by immigration officials because they attended demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday 300 student visas have been revoked.
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Doug Williams
Doug Williams has been reporting and anchoring in the Tri-State Area since 2013.
