Judge orders release of Palestinian activist
Mahmoud Khalil a Columbia graduate
By: Hanna Adely
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... A federal judge ordered the immediate release of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil citing "extraordinary circumstances,' in a blow to the Trump administration, which has fought to keep him in detention in connection with his pro-Palestinian activism.
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Khalil was reportedly released Friday [06/20/2025] night, according to ABC News and The Associated Press.
..... U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz of New Jersey said at June 20 [2025] hearing that the evidence submitted to the court - which the U.S. government had failed to contest - showed that he was not a flight risk or danger and was potentially punitive.
..... It was an extraordinary turn of events in the case, the first of several in which the Trump administration sought to detain and deport students and scholars over pro-Palestinian speech of activism. The government maintained that the secretary of state could order a person's removal if their actions, lifebelts or associations threatens foreign policy interests.
..... Attorneys for Khalil had argued that his continued detention, ordered by the government, was "retaliatory" and "highly unusual," and imposed a chill on his First Amendment rights. They argued that he was not a flight risk, noting that he is married to a U.S. citizen and the father of a 2-month-old child and has no criminal record. Lawyers for the government did not contest that claim or provide evidence that he had posed or would pose a danger, Fabiarz said.
..... Farbiarz
found there were "extraordinary circumstances" related to findings around Khalil's flight risk, his "dangerousness" to the community, and that detention would not ordinarily be sought in such cases.
..... He also raised concerns about the chilling effect on free speech and the ability of an mitigation judge to take on such issues.
....
"So given all those factual findings," he added, "I am going to opt to exercise the discretion that I have to order the release of the petitioner in this case."
..... The judge's signed order, issued after the hearing, stated that Khalil shall be released on bail on June 20. [2025]
..... Farbiarz had ruled on June 11 [2025] that Khalil cannot be detained or deported by Secretary of State Marco Rubio's determination that he threatened American foreign policy interests. but at that time, he did not order his immediate release, citing pending allegations by the U.S. government that he intentionally misrepresented information on his green card application - charges Khalil's legal team has called "merit less."
..... Following the hearing, the White House responded that attorneys for the government will appeal.
..... "Mahmoud Khalil was given the privilege of coming to America to study on a student visa he obtained by fraud and misrepresentation," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an email. "while in the United States, Khalil had constituently engaged in conduct detrimental to American foreign policy interest. Khalil is thus removable twice over. And in nay event, there is no basis for a local feudal judge in New Jersey - who lacks jurisdiction - to order Khalil's release from a detention facility in Louisiana.
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"We expect to be vindicated on appeal, and look forward to removing Khalil from the United States, Jackson added.
..... Khalil's wife Noor Abdalla, celebrated the news of his release and their impending reunion after more than three months in detention.
..... "After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen," who never should have been separated from his father," Abdalla said in a statement. "We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustice the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians. But today [06/20/2025] we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family, and the community that has supported us since the day he was unjustly taken for speaking out for Palestinian freedom.
..... Immigration agents arrested Khalil on March 8 [2025] in his student apartment in Manhattan as he returned home from dinner. A Palestinian born in Syria, Khalil was a student negotiator and spokesman for protested at Columbia in the spring of 2024, when protests against war in Gaza gripped college campuses. In his federal lawsuit pending before the U.S. district Court for the District of New Jersey, Khalil claimed that his detention violates his constitutional rights of free speech and due process.
..... Khalil is represented by Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional rights, CLEAR, Van Der Hout LLO, Washington Square Legal Services, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of New Jersey, and the ACLU of Louisiana.
..... "No one should fear being jailed for speaking out in this country," said Alina Das, co-director of the Immigration Rights Clinic at New York University School of Law, who argued before the court on June 20. [2025] "We are overjoyed that Mr. Khalil will finally be reunited with his family while we continue to fight his case in court."
..... Eduardo Cuevas of USA Today contributed to this report.