Judge extends ban on deportation of Mahmoud Khalil from the US

A judge in the United States has extended his order blocking authorities from deporting detained Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil from the US over his pro-Palestinian activism on campus.

US District Judge Jesse Furman temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation on Monday and extended that prohibition on Wednesday in a written order – following a hearing in New York’s Manhattan federal court – to allow himself more time to consider whether the student’s arrest was unconstitutional.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says Khalil, 29, is subject to deportation under a legal provision that orders the removal of migrants whose presence in the country is deemed by the US Secretary of State to be incompatible with US foreign policy, according to a document seen by the Reuters news agency.

Khalil’s lawyers say his arrest last weekend outside his university residence in Manhattan was in retaliation for his outspoken advocacy against Israel’s war on Gaza, and thus violated Khalil’s right to free speech under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.

“Mr Khalil was identified, targeted, detained and is being processed for deportation on account of his advocacy for Palestinian rights,” Khalil’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem said in court on Wednesday.

Outside the courthouse, Kassem told reporters that the legal provision DHS referred to was rarely used and was not meant to silence dissent.

‘Release Mahmoud Khalil now!’

The latest legal move means that Khalil, who was initially detained in nearby New Jersey, will likely remain detained at an immigration detention centre in the southern US state of Louisiana until at least next week. His lawyers want him returned to New York and released from detention under supervision.

Khalil, who is of Palestinian origin and married to an American citizen, came to the US on a student visa in 2022 and became a permanent resident last year.

Hundreds of people rallied outside the New York City courtroom during the hearing to demand Khalil’s release.

“Release Mahmoud Khalil now!” they chanted.

During the brief hearing, Kassem said his client had been allowed just one call with his legal team from the detention centre in Louisiana. But Kassem said that the call was cut off prematurely and was on a line recorded and monitored by the government.

Judge Furman ruled that Khalil and his lawyers should have one phone call on Wednesday and another on Thursday, covered by attorney-client privilege, meaning the government would not have access to their conversation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Khalil and said they planned to revoke his green card at the behest of the US Department of State.

Khalil had been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University last year, which saw students demanding an end to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. He largely served as a spokesperson and negotiator.

But as he campaigned for a second term in the White House, US President Donald Trump pledged to stop the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that erupted after Israel launched a deadly war on Gaza in October 2023 and deport any foreign students involved.

Upon taking office, he began to issue executive actions signalling he would carry out his threats.

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in a White House fact sheet.

“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”

Trump recently welcomed Khalil’s arrest, saying on Monday that it was “the first of many to come”.

But experts say Khalil’s detention highlights a widening attack on pro-Palestinian activism in the US, as well as a worrying sign for freedom of expression and dissent under the Trump administration.

“Objectively, what is really happening is an effort to silence all public expression of support for Palestinian human rights to placate right-wing supporters of Israel within the Republican Party,” Nader Hashemi, a professor at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera this week.

Legal questions

The legal basis for Khalil’s detention also has been called into question.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio could revoke Khalil’s green card if Rubio determined his presence in the US runs contrary to the country’s national security and foreign policy interests.

Citing a government document detailing the civil charges Khalil faces, The Washington Post also reported on Wednesday that Rubio’s determination “is so far the Trump administration’s sole justification” for trying to deport him.

Separately, Rubio told reporters that Khalil’s case “is not about free speech”.

“This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with,” the top US diplomat told reporters at Ireland’s Shannon airport during a refuelling stop after a trip to Saudi Arabia.

“No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card, by the way,” Rubio said.

But speaking outside the Manhattan court, Khalil’s lawyer Kassem told reporters that the rarely used legal provision that the Trump administration seems to be invoking was not meant to silence dissent.

“It is not intended to be used to silence pro-Palestinian speech or any other speech that the government doesn’t like,” Kassem said.

Reporting from New York on Wednesday afternoon, Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey said Khalil’s legal team argued that he should be returned from Louisiana to New York City because he is far from his lawyers and pregnant wife.

“And they also allege that he is being targeted simply because of his activism in support of Palestinian rights and calling for an end to genocide in Gaza,” Saloomey said.