A courtroom listening to will happen in Manhattan federal courtroom Wednesday morning difficult the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, one of many ringleaders of anti-Israel protests at Columbia College final yr who the Trump administration is making an attempt to deport.
ICE brokers arrested Khalil — who’s a Palestinian raised in Syria and a everlasting U.S. resident — from his university-owned house on the town’s Higher West Aspect on Saturday and advised him they had been revoking his inexperienced card and scholar visa, based on Khalil’s lawyer, Amy Greer.
He was then taken to a Louisiana detention heart.
A courtroom listening to will happen in Manhattan federal courtroom Wednesday morning difficult the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, one of many ringleaders of anti-Israel protests at Columbia College final yr who the Trump administration is making an attempt to deport. (AP Photograph/Ted Shaffrey, left, Barry Williams/New York Each day Information/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Pictures, proper.)
ICE AGENTS ARREST ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST WHO LED PROTESTS ON COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY FOR MONTHS
The Division of Homeland Safety stated that it carried out the arrest to guard U.S. nationwide safety, and claimed that Khalil “led actions aligned to Hamas, a delegated terrorist group.”
District Choose Jesse Furman from the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York is slated to listen to Khalil’s case at round 11:30 a.m. His attorneys have filed motions asserting that ICE violated Khalil’s constitutional rights and are additionally requesting his return to New York.
Furman has the ability to order Khalil’s launch, however it’s unclear if he’ll achieve this. Furman has ordered that the 30-year-old not be deported whereas the courtroom considers the authorized problem introduced by his legal professionals.
Khalil’s spouse, an American citizen, is at present eight months pregnant, based on his lawyer.
“We’ll vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud’s rights in courtroom, and can proceed our efforts to proper this horrible and inexcusable — and calculated — fallacious dedicated in opposition to him,” Greer stated.
Civil rights teams and Khalil’s attorneys say the federal government is unconstitutionally utilizing its immigration-control powers to cease him from talking out. His detention led to protests in Manhattan this week.
ANTISEMITIC RIOT AT COLUMBIA REACHES BOILING POINT AS AGITATORS TAKE OVER ACADEMIC BUILDING, BARRICADE DOORS
Khalil, who acted as a spokesperson for Columbia protesters, has not been charged with a criminal offense, though the listening to may present extra details about the circumstances that led to the arrest and the federal government’s justification for protecting him detained.
His legal professionals and civil rights teams argue the federal government is unlawfully retaliating in opposition to him for his speech and unconstitutionally utilizing its immigration-control powers to cease him from talking out. A joint submitting for Khalil’s legal professionals and the federal government forward of Wednesday’s listening to stated the federal government intends to argue that the Southern District of New York just isn’t the correct venue for the case.
Khalil completed his necessities for a Columbia grasp’s diploma in December. Born in Syria, he’s a grandson of Palestinians who had been pressured to go away their homeland, his legal professionals stated in a authorized submitting.
Khalil performed a main function within the protests in opposition to Israel which rocked Columbia College final yr and he met with college officers on behalf of Columbia College Apartheid Divest, a gaggle of scholar teams urging the college to divest from Israel, based on CNN.
Counter-protesters rally in opposition to individuals denouncing the arrest of former Columbia graduate scholar Mahmoud Khalil in New York on March 10, 2025. (Stephanie Keith for Fox Information Digital)
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the Trump administration’s choice to arrest Khalil and claimed that he distributed pro-Hamas propaganda fliers on campus.
“This administration just isn’t going to tolerate people having the privilege of learning in our nation after which siding with pro-terrorist organizations which have killed People,” Leavitt advised reporters Tuesday at a White Home press briefing, noting that on her desk had been the “pro-Hamas propaganda fliers with the brand of Hamas” on them that Khalil allegedly was distributing. “Now we have a zero-tolerance coverage for siding with terrorists interval.”
The way forward for Khalil’s immigration standing might be determined in a separate course of, based on the New York Occasions. That matter might be presided over by an immigration choose, who may decide whether or not to revoke Khalil’s inexperienced card.
Protesters rally in opposition to the arrest of former Columbia graduate scholar Mahmoud Khalil in New York on March 10, 2025. Mahmoud Khalil was one of many major scholar organizers of the scholar encampment final yr at Columbia College. (Stephanie Keith for Fox Information Digital)
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In the meantime, ABC Information stories that Khalil’s spouse claims that her husband “begged” Columbia College for authorized help in an electronic mail at some point earlier than his arrest however the college by no means responded.
“I have never been capable of sleep, fearing that ICE or a harmful particular person would possibly come to my residence. I urgently want authorized help and I urge you to intervene,” he reportedly stated in his electronic mail.
She additionally claims she was threatened with arrest when she refused to go away her husband with brokers throughout his apprehension, claiming that the couple was by no means proven a warrant, per the outlet.
Fox Information’ Diana Stancy, Alexis McAdams and Stepheny Value, in addition to The Related Press contributed to this report.
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