Palestinian activist can speak across country at events while pushing back on Trump’s attempts to deport him
A federal judge has lifted travel restrictions within the US for Mahmoud Khalil, allowing the Palestinian activist to speak at rallies and other events across the country while he fights the Trump administration’s efforts to deport him.
Khalil, who was freed from a Louisiana immigration jail in June after being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) amid student and activist roundups, had asked a federal magistrate judge to lift the restrictions that had limited his travel to New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, Louisiana and Michigan.
At a virtual hearing on Thursday, Alina Das, a lawyer for the former Columbia University graduate student who was ordered deported from the US last month, said her client “wants to travel for the very significant first amendment reasons that are at the bottom of this case”.
“He wants to speak to issues of public concern,” Das added, citing the constitutional right to free speech.
