'Chilling,' 'dangerous' moves by Trump administration against activist Khalil, says attorney

Record ID: 1987270

  • Title: 'Chilling,' 'dangerous' moves by Trump administration against activist Khalil, says attorney
  • Date: 28th March 2025
  • Summary: COURTHOUSE / PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGNS AND CHANTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) BAHER AZMY, CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS LEGAL DIRECTOR AND MAHMOUD KHALIL'S ATTORNEY, SAYING: "We're in court today because the United States government, after arresting our client, Mahmoud Khalil, spirited him overnight to Louisiana in order to avoid the jurisdiction of the courts in New York an
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Columbia Mahmoud Khalil Trump
  • Location: NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA002248928032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A U.S. judge said on Friday (March 28) he must decide on the proper jurisdiction for Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil to challenge his imprisonment before he can decide whether to release him, meaning the pro-Palestinian activist will remain in a Louisiana jail for now.
    Lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration are defending the arrest of Khalil, a Palestinian who had a U.S. green card, by immigration agents earlier this month in a case that tests the government's efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists who have not been charged with any crime.
    "What they've (Trump administration lawyers) done in court today is dangerous," said Khalil's attorney, Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "What they're ultimately trying to do to so many student activists is chilling."
    Khalil's lawyers have asked U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey, to release him from jail in Louisiana while he challenges the government's effort to deport him.
    His lawyers say the Trump administration improperly targeted Khalil for his political views and prominent role in Columbia's student protest movement, and say he should be with his wife, Noor Abdalla, who attended Friday's hearing at the Newark federal court, for the birth of their first child next month.
    Khalil, 30, spent several hours in New Jersey after being arrested in Manhattan.
    The government has asked the judge either to move the case to a federal court in Louisiana, where Khalil, 30, is detained during deportation proceedings, or to dismiss the proceeding, so Khalil can challenge his arrest in Louisiana.
    Farbiarz did not say when he would rule but said on Friday it was his hope that "judges are judges, and they're going to see things the same way in whatever place."
    If Farbiarz grants the government's request to move Khalil's case to Louisiana, any appeals would be heard by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the most conservative in the country.
    The Trump administration said it has revoked the visas of hundreds of foreign students it says took part in the protests that swept college campuses protesting the U.S. government's military support of Israel. The government says Khalil and other international students who take part are harming U.S. foreign policy interests.
    Born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, Khalil arrived in the U.S. on a student visa in 2022 and became a legal permanent resident last year.
    The government has accused Khalil of not disclosing in his application that he was what it called a "member" of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency known as UNRWA. UNRWA and his lawyers said Khalil completed an unpaid internship at UNRWA's New York office as part of his Columbia master's degree program, which was listed on his application.
    The government also accused Khalil of failing to disclose what it described as his "continued employment" in the British embassy in Beirut "beyond 2022."
    Khalil's lawyers say he correctly put on the application that he left the job when he left Beirut, and a spokesperson for Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said earlier this month that Khalil ended his employment with the embassy more than two years ago.
    (Production: Andrew Hofstetter, Roselle Chen)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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