Anna Young
The Trump administration is barred from deporting and continuing to detain anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
New Jersey federal Judge Michael Farbiarz issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting federal officials from booting the Columbia University rabble rouser from the country, arguing that the admin’s reasoning that Khalil’s continued presence would pose a risk to foreign policy was not sufficient, according to court documents obtained by The Post.
Farbiarz ordered that the legal US resident be freed from custody as early as Friday, asserting that his continued detention is causing irreparable harm to his career, his family and his constitutional right to free speech.
The Department of Homeland Security has until Friday morning to appeal the decision.
Khalil – a 30-year-old green card-holding Palestinian born in Syria – was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at his Columbia-funded Manhattan apartment in March following a federal crackdown on anti-Israel demonstrators at university campuses nationwide.
The New York resident, who is also a citizen of Algeria, was then shipped off to a Louisiana migrant detention center – thousands of miles away from his lawyers and US citizen wife, who gave birth to their first child while he was awaiting deportation.
The Trump administration claims the new dad, who served as a spokesman for anti-Israel groups including Columbia University Apartheid Divest, engaged in activities “aligned to Hamas,” the Palestinian terror group.
The radical activist group is responsible for the riotous takeover at Columbia’s Hamilton Hall last April.
“When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, take over buildings and deface property, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday following the ruling.
Khalil’s lawyers have been fighting the arrest both in immigration court and in New Jersey federal court — arguing that his seizure violated the First Amendment right to free speech, since the government allegedly targeted him for his anti-Israel activities.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security invoked an obscure law that allows a Secretary of State to deport noncitizens who potentially threaten US foreign policy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously argued that Khalil’s presence undermines “US policy to combat antisemitism” and his participation in “antisemetic protests” fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students across the country.
He has also claimed that the Trump administration has authority to deport noncitizens whose presence hurts US foreign policy interests.
An immigration judge in Louisiana, where Khalil’s case is also being heard, ruled in April that he can be deported based on Rubio’s justifications, but Farbiarz, the federal judge, had temporarily blocked his deportation while the case played out.
A spokesperson for the White House reiterated Rubio’s claims in response to the judge’s ruling Wednesday.
“While in the United States, Khalil has consistently engaged in conduct detrimental to American foreign policy interests including ongoing support for Hamas and harassment of Jewish students on campus,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “The law authorizes the Secretary of State to revoke green cards of individuals who pose a threat to American foreign-policy interests.”
Both the White House and the DHS said the admin plans to fight the ruling.
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