A US judge extended an order blocking authorities from deporting Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil from detaining him from the US over his pro-Palestinian activism on campus.
US District Judge Jesse Furman temporarily blocked Halil’s deportation on Monday, and extended the ban by written order following a hearing in Manhattan Federal Court in New York on Wednesday, allowing time to consider whether the student’s arrest was unconstitutional.
According to documents seen by Reuters, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says that 29-year-old Khalil, 29, will be subject to deportation under legal provisions that are subject to deportation under legal provisions.
Halil’s lawyers say his arrest outside a Manhattan university residence last weekend has been retaliated for his outspoken defense of Israel’s war with Gaza and thus violated Halil’s right to freedom of speech under amendments to the US Constitution.
“Mr. Khalil has been identified, targeted, detained and processed for deportation in his defense of Palestinian rights,” Khalil’s lawyer Ramtsi Qassem told the court on Wednesday.
Outside the court, Kasem told reporters that the legal provisions mentioned are rarely used and were not intended to silence the objection.
“Releasing Mahmoud Khalil now!”
The latest legal move means that Halil, originally detained in nearby New Jersey, is likely to remain in custody at immigration detention centers in southern Louisiana until at least next week. His lawyers hope he will return to New York and be released from custody under supervision.
Halil, a Palestinian native and married to an American citizen, came to the United States on a student visa in 2022 and became a permanent resident last year.
Hundreds gathered outside New York City courtrooms to demand the release of Halil.
“Releasing Mahmoud Khalil now!” they chanted.
During a short hearing, Kasem said his client was allowed to make only one call with his legal team from the Louisiana detention center. However, Kasem said the call was prematurely cut off and on a line recorded and monitored by the government.
Judge Furman determined that Halil and his attorney should make one call Wednesday and another on Thursday.
Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested Halil and said it plans to cancel his green card at the request of the US State Department.
Halil was at the forefront of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University last year, demanding that students end Israeli wars in the Gaza Strip. He was primarily a spokesman and negotiator.
However, when he campaigned for a second term in the White House, US President Donald Trump promised to stop the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that erupted after Israel launched a fatal war with Gaza in October 2023 and deported foreign students involved.
Upon his appointment, he began publishing executive actions that showed him performing his threat.
“To all the resident aliens who participated in the pro jihadist protests, we have notified you: Come in 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said on a White House fact sheet.
“I will also quickly cancel all Hamas sympathizer student visas on university campus.
Trump recently welcomed Halil’s arrest and said on Monday he was “the first of many people to come.”
But experts say Halil’s detention highlights widespread attacks on US pro-Palestinian behaviorism and signs of concern for freedom of expression and objection under the Trump administration.
“Objectively, what’s actually happening is an effort to silence all public expressions of support for Palestinian human rights to appease Israel’s right-wing supporters within the Republican Party,” Nader Hasemi, a professor at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera this week.
Legal Questions
The legal basis for Khalil’s detention is also raised in question.
White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio could cancel Khalil’s green card if Rubio determines that his presence in the United States is operating against the interests of the country’s national security and foreign policy.
Citing government documents detailing Khalil’s civil charges, the Washington Post also reported Wednesday that Rubio’s resolve was “the only justification of the Trump administration” to try to deport him.
Separately, Rubio told reporters that Halil’s case was “not about freedom of speech.”
“This is about people who don’t have the right to be in the US in the first place,” a US diplomat told reporters at Ireland’s Shannon airport during a refueling halt after a trip to Saudi Arabia.
“No one has the right to a student visa. By the way, no one has the right to a green card,” Rubio said.
But speaking outside of Manhattan courthouse, Khalil’s lawyer, Qassem, told reporters that the rarely used legal provision that the Trump administration appears to be called is not intended to silence the objection.
“It is not intended to be used to silence pro-Palestinian speeches or other speeches the government doesn’t like,” Kasem said.
Reporting from New York on Wednesday afternoon, Al Jazeera’s Kristen Salumi said Khalil’s legal team had insisted he should return to New York City from Louisiana as he is far from his lawyers and pregnant wife.
“And they also argue that he is being targeted because of his efforts to support Palestinian rights and seek to end Gaza’s genocide,” Salumi said.