US judge says Trump govt must release Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil

Khalil has been held since March, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that Khalil posed a threat to US foreign policy

A federal judge ruled the Trump administration can’t detain or deport a former Columbia University graduate student based on claims that his participation in pro-Palestinian protests compromised US foreign policy, a decision that could lead to his release from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

The judge said the Trump administration hadn’t contested evidence presented by Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyers and his reputation is being damaged. (AP)

US District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey, said in a court order Wednesday that Mahmoud Khalil, 29, was likely to win the legal fight over his detention, which had harmed his career and reputation and stifled his free speech rights.

The government has held Khalil since March, saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined Khalil posed a threat to US foreign policy and that he’d made errors in his green card application. The judge ruled Rubio’s arguments didn’t justify detention and that it was unlikely the government could justify holding Khalil over the application errors.

However, Farbiarz paused his order until 9:30 a.m. Friday to allow the federal government time to appeal. He said Khalil must post a $1 bond to secure his release.

The judge said the Trump administration hadn’t contested evidence presented by Khalil’s lawyers, concluding that his “career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled —- and this adds up to irreparable harm.”

Born in Syria to Palestinian refugees, Khalil moved to the US in 2022, where he earned a master’s degree at Columbia. Khalil was due to receive his diploma at last month’s graduation ceremony but was still in ICE custody in Louisiana. Khalil is married to an American citizen.

Since he was arrested in March, Khalil has become a symbol of the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus protests over Israel’s war with Hamas. Lawyers for Khalil and for the government didn’t immediately return emails seeking comment about the ruling.