JENA, LA. (AP) — Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who became a symbol of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on protests on campuses, was freed Friday from federal immigration custody after 104 days, according to a judge’s decision.
On Friday, the former graduate student from Columbia University departed a federal facility in Louisiana. He is anticipated to travel to New York to be with his wife, a U.S. citizen, and their baby son, who was born while Khalil was in custody.
He stated outside the institution in a remote area of Louisiana, “Justice won, but it’s long overdue.” Three months shouldn’t have been needed for this.
Due to Khalil’s involvement in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, the Trump administration is attempting to deport him. On March 8, he was arrested in his Manhattan apartment complex.
After U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz declared that it would be extremely unusual for the government to keep holding a lawful U.S. resident who was unlikely to run and had not been charged with any violent crimes, Khalil was freed.
According to the facts, the petitioner poses no threat to the community and is not a flight risk, he stated. Complete stop, period.
The judge from New Jersey stated after an hour-long phone session that the government had blatantly failed to meet the requirements for custody.
The government announced its appeal of Khalil’s release on Friday night.
In a post on the social media site X, the Department of Homeland Security stated that an immigration judge in Louisiana had denied Khalil’s bond and ordered his removal on the same day that Farbiarz had granted his release. Judge Jamee Comans, who sits in the same courtroom as the one where Khalil was released from custody, rendered the ruling.
According to the post, an immigration judge, not a district judge, has the power to determine whether Mr. Khalil should be freed or held in custody.
As part of Trump’s crackdown on students who participated in campus demonstrations against Israel’s disastrous war in Gaza, Khalil became the first person to be jailed. According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Khalil’s continued presence could jeopardize U.S. foreign policy, hence he must be removed from the nation.
The Trump administration has maintained that noncitizens who take part in these protests ought to be deported because it perceives their opinions as antisemitic. Civil rights organizations and protesters claim that the administration is stifling dissent by confusing criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
The government’s arguments that Khalil’s presence could jeopardize foreign policy have led Farbiarz to rule that the government cannot deport him. However, based on claims that he misled on his green card application—a charge Khalil denies—the judge allowed the administration to proceed with a possible deportation.
During the Columbia protests, the graduate student studying international relations is not charged with violating any laws. Although he was not one of the protesters arrested, he was a spokesperson and negotiator for student activists, and his willingness to speak in public and his presence in news coverage made him a target of detractors.
Even though there was no clear justification for Khalil’s prolonged imprisonment, the judge agreed Friday with his attorneys that the demonstrator was being denied the opportunity to exercise his rights to free expression and fair process. Khalil is now undoubtedly a public figure, the judge observed.
No one should be imprisoned for opposing Israel’s invasion in Gaza, Khalil declared on Friday. He claimed that his stay in the prison in Jena, Louisiana, had given him a new perspective on our nation, which is meant to support liberty, justice, and human rights.
He said that justice will be served regardless of what this government may attempt to say about immigration. “Being a U.S. citizen, an immigrant, or just a person on this land does not mean that you are less of a human,” he said.
Khalil will receive his green card back and official documents that allow him to travel within the country, including to New York and Michigan to visit family, New Jersey and Louisiana for court appearances, and Washington to lobby Congress, even though he had to give up his passport and is no longer able to travel abroad.
Dr. Noor Abdalla, Khalil’s wife, stated in a statement following the judge’s decision that she can now finally relax after her husband’s three months in custody.
“We are aware that the injustices the Trump administration has inflicted on our family and countless others are not even partially addressed by this ruling,” she said. However, we are commemorating Mahmoud’s return to New York and his reunion with our small family today.
The judge’s ruling follows the release of several other academics who were targeted for their activity, including Mohsen Mahdawi, a former Columbia student who was a Palestinian; Rumeysa Ozturk, a student at Tufts University; and Badar Khan Suri, a researcher at Georgetown University.
From New York, Marcelo provided updates. From New York, Jennifer Peltz contributed.
