A U.S. federal judge on Friday ordered the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and prominent pro-Palestinian activist, from immigration custody, marking a significant win for civil rights advocates who argue the Trump administration is unlawfully targeting student protesters critical of Israel's war on Gaza.
Khalil, a legal permanent U.S. resident, was arrested by immigration agents on March 8 in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan. His detention followed President Donald Trump’s announcement that foreign students participating in pro-Palestinian protests would face deportation. Khalil became the first person detained under this policy.
After hearing arguments from Khalil's attorneys and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey, ordered DHS to release Khalil from a Louisiana detention center for immigrants.
Farbiarz said the government had failed to dispute evidence that Khalil posed no flight risk or danger to the public. “There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner,” he stated, adding that such punishment for civil immigration issues would be unconstitutional.
