A federal judge has ruled that the government must release Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student, whom the Trump administration is trying to deport over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
But Mr Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, will remain in custody until at least Friday (June 13, 2025) morning while the government decides whether to appeal, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said Wednesday (June 11, 2025).
He was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under President Donald Trump’s crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza.
Foreign students face uncertainty as Trump steps up attack on universities
He was then flown across the country and taken to an immigration detention centre in Jena, Louisiana, thousands of miles from his attorneys and wife, a U.S. citizen who gave birth to their first child while he was in custody.
