Government asks that detained Columbia student’s legal fight be moved to New Jersey or Louisiana
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NEW YORK — A government lawyer asked a federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday to move the legal fight over the detention of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil to New Jersey or Louisiana, two locations where he has been held as the Trump administration seeks to deport him over his participation in pro-Palestinian protests at the school.
Immigration enforcement agents arrested Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident who is married to an American citizen, in New York on Saturday. After initially being held in New Jersey, he was moved to an immigration detention center in Louisiana.
After Khalil’s arrest, Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered that the 30-year-old not be deported while the court considers a legal challenge brought by his lawyers, who are seeking to have Khalil returned to New York and released under supervision. They argue that he engaged in protected free speech and that the government is illegally retaliating against him over it.
During a brief hearing Wednesday, attorney Brandon Waterman argued on behalf of the Justice Department that the venue for the deportation fight be moved from New York City to Louisiana or New Jersey.
Mahmoud Khalil was at his apartment in Manhattan when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the building and took him into custody.
Furman, calling the legal issues “important and weighty,” asked the two sides to submit a joint letter on Friday describing when they propose to submit written arguments over the legal issues raised by Khalil’s detention.
Ramzi Kassem, representing Khalil’s interests, said the student’s lawyers have been unable to have even a single attorney-client-privileged conversation with Khalil since he was taken into custody.
Kassem told Furman that Khalil was “identified, targeted and detained” because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights and his protected speech. He said Khalil has no criminal convictions, but, “for some reason, is being detained.”
Furman ordered that Khalil be able to have at least one attorney-client phone call with his lawyers on Wednesday and at least one phone conference with his attorneys on Thursday.
Kassem said lawyers for Khalil will file a rewritten lawsuit on Thursday.
Columbia University became the center of a U.S. pro-Palestinian protest movement that swept across college campuses nationwide last year and led to more than 2,000 arrests.
Immigration enforcement agents on Saturday arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who has not been charged with any crime.
President Trump heralded Khalil’s arrest as the first “of many to come,” vowing on social media to deport students he described as engaging in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”
During a stopover in Ireland while headed from Saudi Arabia to a meeting of the G7 foreign ministers in Canada, Secretary of State Marco 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. No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card,” Rubio said.
Khalil, who acted as a spokesperson for Columbia protesters, has not been charged with a crime. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the administration moved to deport him under a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the secretary of state the power to deport a noncitizen on foreign policy grounds.
Civil rights groups and Khalil’s attorneys say the government is unconstitutionally using its immigration control powers to stop him from speaking out.
Khalil’s detention has sparked protests in New York City and other cities. On Tuesday, a man was arrested and 11 other people were given summonses for alleged disorderly conduct during a demonstration near Washington Square Park in lower Manhattan, police said.
I have been outspoken about my concern about increasing antisemitism on campuses. But deporting activists violates the 1st Amendment and does nothing to combat antisemitism.
Khalil, whose wife is pregnant with their first child, finished his requirements for a Columbia master’s degree in December. Born in Syria, he is a grandson of Palestinians who were forced to leave their homeland, his lawyers said in a legal filing.
U.S. Jewish groups and leaders and organizations have been divided in their response to Khalili’s detention.
Among those welcoming the move was the Anti-Defamation League, which said it hopes it serves as a “deterrent.”
“We appreciate the Trump Administration’s broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus antisemitism — and this action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions,” the ADL said on social media.
Amy Spitalnick, CEO of Jewish Council for Public Affairs, decried Khalil’s detention.
The Trump administration “is exploiting real concerns about antisemitism to undercut democracy: from gutting education funding to deporting students to attacking diversity, equity, & inclusion,” she wrote on Bluesky. “As we’ve repeatedly said: this makes Jews — & so many others — less safe.”
Offenhartz writes for the Associated Press. AP reporters Matthew Lee in Shannon, Ireland, and David Crary in New York contributed to this report.
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