Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil will have his day in court.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman on Wednesday tossed the Trump administration’s attempt to dismiss Khalil’s case, instead transferring the case to New Jersey—where Khalil was first held in detention, and where he resided when his attorneys challenged his deportation—rather than Louisiana, where he had been sent.
The Manhattan-based judge agreed with the Justice Department that the case was outside of his jurisdiction, and did not rule on Khalil’s bid to be released on bail. Furman did, however, extend an order that explicitly bars the federal government from removing Khalil from the country. That will remain in effect until the federal court in New Jersey that the case is transferring to rules otherwise, according to Furman’s order.
Khalil, a Columbia graduate student who served as a negotiator for the pro-Palestine sit-in on campus last year, had
challenged the legality of his arrest by plainclothes ICE agents earlier this month who refused to identify themselves. The agents took him into custody at his university-owned apartment, where they also threatened to arrest his wife, an eight-month pregnant American citizen, according to Khalil’s attorney Amy Greer. Khalil is a legal U.S. resident with no criminal history.
ICE claimed that they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa. But when notified by Greer that Khalil was in the U.S. as a permanent resident with a green card, the agency told her that they would be revoking that, instead.
“At the heart of this case is the important question of whether and under what circumstances the Government may rescind a person’s lawful permanent resident status and remove him from the United States,” Furman wrote in his order.
Khalil accused the federal government of violating his First Amendment right to free speech, arguing that the attempted deportation was an effort to “retaliate against and punish” him for participating in the Columbia protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Khalil further accused the government of violating his Fifth Amendment right to due process.
“These are serious allegations and arguments that, no doubt, warrant careful review by a court of law; the fundamental constitutional principle that all persons in the United States are entitled to due process of law demands no less,” Furman wrote.
Trump officials have accused Khalil of “siding with terrorists,” but have failed to offer evidence connecting the graduate student to Hamas or other terrorist organizations. Speaking with
CBS News on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that being a negotiator for protesters was a “crime in and of itself,” and cited news footage of “vandalized” campus buildings as reason for nixing Khalil’s legal status.
Rubio could have been referring to the protest’s occupation of Hamilton Hall, an administrative building on Columbia’s campus that students have
similarly occupied over the last several decades for various civil rights protests. Those include demonstrations against the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa. In 2024, students renamed the building “Hind’s Hall” in honor of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who had been killed by the Israeli military that year.
Khalil referred to himself as a “political prisoner” in a
letter dictated over the phone from the ICE detention center in Louisiana where he is being held. He accused both the Trump and Biden administrations of helping foment anti-Palestinian racism, and called out Columbia leadership for failing to come to his aid.
“The Trump administration is targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent. Visa-holders, green-card carriers, and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs,” Khalil warned. “In the weeks ahead, students, advocates, and elected officials must unite to defend the right to protest for Palestine. At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all.”
This story has been updated.
