A legal battle over a detained Columbia University student that has become a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s immigration policy will play out in federal court, with the U.S. government indicating on Tuesday it would oppose the Palestinian activist’s bid for release.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan temporarily blocked authorities on Monday from deporting Mahmoud Khalil, 29, and scheduled a hearing for Wednesday.
Lawyers for the government plan to argue Furman did not have authority to resolve the case, and that the judge should decide on whether he has such authority before considering the merits of Khalil’s arguments, according to a joint filing submitted on Tuesday evening by Khalil’s lawyers on behalf of both parties.
They said the Wednesday hearing would focus mostly on scheduling.
The case could ultimately test where immigration courts draw the line between protected free speech and alleged support for groups the United States calls terrorists, as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to fulfill his promise to deport some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement.
While Trump has alleged on social media that Khalil supported Hamas, his administration has not charged Khalil with a crime and not provided any evidence to show the Palestinian’s alleged support for the militant group.
Khalil was a prominent activist at Columbia, which experienced some of the biggest protests against Israel’s military assault on Gaza that followed Hamas’ October 2023 attack. Washington has designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization.
The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and Israel’s military campaign has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Trump branded Khalil on social media on Monday a “Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student” and said more arrests would follow.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused Khalil on Tuesday of “siding with terrorists” and said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had the right to revoke permanent residency status for adversaries of U.S. foreign policy and national security interests.
“This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations,” Leavitt told reporters.
Leavitt said flyers with Hamas’ logo were distributed at “group protests” she said Khalil had organized, but did not present evidence of Khalil’s involvement.
In court papers, Khalil’s lawyers have described him as a “mediator and negotiator” and said his advocacy for Palestinians was protected speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
Columbia’s administration has said Khalil was one of the lead negotiators with the school on behalf of the protesters about their demands to end investments of Columbia’s $14.8 billion endowment in weapons manufacturers and other companies that support Israel.
PROTESTS IN MANHATTAN
Khalil’s lawyers have asserted his arrest on Saturday by Department of Homeland Security agents outside Columbia student housing was illegal.
While Furman has the authority to order Khalil released from detention if he finds his rights were violated, deportation proceedings could nonetheless continue in a separate immigration court, said Daniel Kanstroom, a professor at Boston College Law School.
Demonstrators on the streets of New York City, Democratic lawmakers, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories condemned the arrest.
“This lawless abuse of power and political repression is a threat to all Americans,” 14 Democratic members of Congress, including Palestinian American U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, wrote in a letter on Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
A crowd of a few hundred people chanted “Free Palestine” and anti-police slogans at a protest in lower Manhattan. Shortly before the evening rush hour, at least six protesters were arrested after police asked them to get out of the street, a Reuters witness said.
Demonstrators also gathered at college campuses throughout Manhattan.
“(Khalil’s) arrest is a very, very alarming escalation in what’s already an alarming assault on civil liberties,” Danny Katch, an English teacher at City College of New York, told Reuters at a protest at the school’s uptown Manhattan campus.
GREEN CARD HOLDER
Khalil, a Palestinian raised in Syria, arrived in the United States on a student visa in 2022, his lawyers said. He completed his master’s degree in public administration at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December, and is due to graduate in May, his lawyers said.
He became a lawful permanent U.S. resident with a green card last year, according to his lawyers. His legal status grants him the protections of the U.S. Constitution, including free speech under the First Amendment.
Rubio said on X on Sunday that the government would be revoking visas and green cards of those supporting Hamas so they could be deported from the United States.
Legal experts say the government would need to prove to an immigration judge that Khalil should be deported by clear, convincing and unequivocal evidence – a higher standard than many civil cases but lower than the standard needed to convict someone of a crime.
It would be up to an immigration judge – not Furman – to determine whether Khalil had engaged in activity that would justify his removal from the United States, said Kevin Johnson, dean of the University of California, Davis School of Law.
Khalil would have the right to appeal an unfavorable ruling, and the case could take years.
