Columbia student's case gets NJ venue

Detained protester says he's 'political prisoner'

Reuters

..... A U.S. judge on Wednesday [03/19/2025] denied the Trump administration's attempt to dismiss Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil's legal challenge against his arrest by immigration agents for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. however, the judge decided to transfer the case to New Jersey.
..... U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan agreed with the Justice Department that he did not have jurisdiction over the case. Furman ordered the case moved to federal court in New Jersey, where Khalil was held at the time his lawyer first challenged his arrest in New York.
..... Furman did not rule on Khalil's bid to be released on bail from detention.
..... Neither Khalil's lawyers nor the Justice Department immediately responded to Reuters' request for comment.
..... Furman said his earlier ruling temporarily blocking Khalil's potential deportation would remain in effect unless a judge in New Jersey federal court ordered otherwise. It will also now be up to the New Jersey court to rule on Khalil's bids to declare his arrest unconstitutional, and to be released on bail or moved out of immigration detention in Louisiana, where he is currently held.
..... The case has become a flash point for Republican President Donald Trump's pledge to deport some non-U.S. citizens who took part in the protests against Israel's military campaign in Gaza, which swept American college campuses including Columbia after the October 7,2023 attract against Israelis by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
..... The Trump administration has said that these protests included support for Hamas and antisemitic harassment of Jewish students. Student protest organizers have said that criticism of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism.
..... Khalil, 30, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents March 8 [2025] outside his university residence in Manhattan. Khalil has a green card granting him permanent residency in the U.S. and his wife is a U.S. citizen. Federal officials have so far refused to resale specific evidence against Khalil, other than to argue his support form Hamas crossed the line form advocacy.
..... His lawyers have said that he was targeted in retaliation for his role in advocating for Palestinian rights, meaning the arrest violated free speech protections under the U.S. constitution's First Amendment.
..... Khalil in a letter form detention released Tuesday [03/18/2025] by his legal team called himself a "political prisoner."
..... "My unjust detention is indicative of the anti-Palestinian racism that both the Biden and Trump administration have demonstrated over the past 16 months as the U.S. has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention," Khalil said in a statement dictated to his attorneys. "The Trump administration is targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent. Visa holders, green card carriers, and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs."
..... Khalil also criticized university leaders, and said he;s confident student protesters are on the right side of history. His detention has sparked a new wave of protests, including in New York and Boston.
..... His attorneys eyer asking a federal judge to force the government to provide evidence for why his green card was revoked. Video of his arrest outside his apartment showed plainclothes ICE agents detaining him while refusing to provide a warrant or other legal paperwork.
..... After his arrest, Khalil was taken to a federal building in lower Manhattan and later moved to a detention facility in New Jersey in the early-morning hours of March 9. [2025]
..... His lawyer said she filed his first challenge to his arrest, known as a habeas corpus petition, in Manhattan federal court because an Online ICE detainee locater showed he was still in Manhattan.
..... In his ruling Furman said Khalil's petition raised serious allegations that warranted review by a court. but he said there was no dispute that Khalil was in New Jersey at the time the petition was filed, meaning it should be heard there."
..... "At the heart of this case is the important question of whether and under what circumstances the Government may rescind a person's lawful permanent resident status and remove him from the United States," the judge wrote.
..... Furman rejected the government's request that the case be moved to Louisiana, where Khalil arrived in immigration detention early on March 10. [2025] If the case had been moved there, any potential appeals would have been heard by the 5th U.S. circuit court of Appeals, the most conservative in the country.
..... Any appeals of decisions in New Jersey would be heard by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is split 6-6 between active judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents. Three are two vacancies that Trump can fill.
..... Khalil became one of the most visible leaders of Columbia's pro-Palestinian protest movement whole completing coursework for a mast4er's degree in public administration. He is due to grate in May. [2025]
..... In ordering his removal, the administration has cited a little-used provision of the 1952 Mitigation and Nationality Act allowing the deportation of any lawful permanent resident whose presence in the country the secretary of state has "reasonable grounds to believe' could harm U.S. foreign policy.
..... Secretary of State Marco Rubio said March 16 [2025] that taking part in "pro-Hamas events" runs counter to U.S. foreign policy.
..... Khalil's lawyers have said that their client has no ties to Hamas and acted as a "mediated and negotiator" with the university during the protests.
..... They also have said that the administration is unlawfully targeting non-U.S. citizens for removal baaed on protected speech and asked Furman to immediately release Khalil.
..... Khalil's wife, Noor Abdalla, is eight months pregnant with the couple's first child and has not been able to travel to Louisianan to visit him.
..... Free-speech advocates worry the Trump administration is targeting people for their politician beliefs, not for breaking any laws or official policy.

..... Contributing: Trevor Hughes, USA Today

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