Why Mahmoud Khalil Remains in Detention as Other Protesters Are Freed

New York Times

20-05-2025

Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, was released after 58 days.
Rumeyza Ozturk, a Tufts doctoral student, was released after 45 days.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia undergraduate, was released after 16 days.
But 72 days after his arrest on March 9, Mahmoud Khalil — the country's most prominent pro-Palestinian-protester-turned-prisoner — is still detained in Jena, La., waiting for a New Jersey federal judge to decide whether he can go free while his immigration case proceeds.
The Trump administration has invoked a rarely cited law to argue that Mr. Khalil's presence in the country threatens its foreign-policy goal of halting antisemitism. Mr. Khalil's lawyers have argued that the government is retaliating against their client, a legal permanent resident, for participating in protests that shook Columbia University's campus and that he should have his liberty while his immigration case is assessed.
The New Jersey judge, Michael E. Farbiarz, has been thoroughly engaged. But he has yet to weigh in fully on the issues of free speech and due process that have attracted enormous attention to Mr. Khalil's case.
His meticulous approach has made the case an exemplar of Trump-era justice, in which the White House frequently moves with a speed that courts are not used to matching.
Mr. Khalil's lawyers have repeatedly asked the judge to decide whether to release their client on bail, like the other students, before ruling on the issues at the heart of the case. The judge has responded that he must deal with the procedural basics first.
Judge Farbiarz has issued numerous orders and written two lengthy rulings: a 67-page determination that he had the right to preside over the case and a 108-page opinion asserting that his control over the case had not been stripped.
In the second ruling, he acknowledged that the law's response to cases like Mr. Khalil's 'has been the same across the board: no unnecessary delay.'
That opinion was issued on April 29.
'Mahmoud is understandably frustrated that he was the first to be detained and nine weeks later is still in detention,' said Baher Azmy, one of Mr. Khalil's lawyers. 'But we remain optimistic that the court will see through the patent unconstitutionality of the government's actions here and order him released soon.'
Legal experts acknowledged that Judge Farbiarz, 51, has proceeded more slowly than other judges. But they emphasized that each judge was different and said they believed it made sense, particularly for an early-career jurist like Judge Farbiarz, to be as thorough as possible.
'In a case that has gotten this much notoriety, I think there's every reason if you're the judge to make sure you have all of your ducks in a row,' said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University. 'Judge Farbiarz knows that there is a national spotlight, not just on him but on the ability of the federal courts to handle cases like these.'
Judge Farbiarz has a reputation for thorough, methodical preparation that borders on the obsessive. Before he ascended to the bench in 2023, he was a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, where he headed the office's terrorism and international narcotics unit.
As a prosecutor, he led a case against one of Osama Bin Laden's sons-in-law, and another against the first Guantánamo Bay detainee to be tried in civilian court. He also prosecuted a Swedish citizen, Oussama Kassir, who was accused of plotting to set up a training camp for terrorists at an Oregon ranch.
Mark S. DeMarco, a defense lawyer based in the Bronx, represented Mr. Kassir. He was struck by the future Judge Farbiarz's sense of fair play, and his thoroughness.
'All his bases were covered. There was no stone left unturned,' Mr. DeMarco remembered, adding, 'He was probably one of the most prepared prosecutors I've gone up against as an adversary.'
After leaving the Manhattan office, the ex-prosecutor became a senior fellow at New York University's law school, and worked on academic papers that focused on jurisdiction and due process issues involving defendants outside the United States — issues similar to those he has pondered at length in Mr. Khalil's case.
'What's really marked about those articles is they do not read as somebody straight out of the prosecutorial trenches,' said Daniel Richman, a law professor at Columbia University who is friendly with the judge. 'They read as written by somebody who stepped back from his own practice and really tried to get it right in terms of the legal doctrine.'
People caught up in the legal system often find that judges do not rule quickly enough to account for rapidly unfolding events. The disjuncture has been particularly notable during the second Trump administration, during which courts have struggled to keep up.
'A lot of us on the outside expect federal courts to move with the same dispatch that the executive branch can move. That's not practicable and it's not wise,' Mr. Vladeck said. 'What separates judicial power from political power is principled legal rationale. Sometimes it takes a little time to make sure that you've got the right principles to inform your position.'
In Mr. Khalil's case, the administration moved with characteristic speed, both in initially detaining him and in rationalizing his arrest.
A spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department quickly claimed he had led activities 'aligned to Hamas.' And Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, accused him of 'siding with terrorists,' and of participating in protests in which 'pro-Hamas' fliers were handed out.
But in the weeks since, those allegations have not been substantiated. Evidence submitted in Mr. Khalil's immigration case revealed no secretive support for Hamas. And his lawyers have pointed to comments he made on CNN saying that 'antisemitism and any form of racism has no place on campus and in this movement.'
His case continues to play out in two separate courts. Judge Farbiarz has the power to free him and to determine the constitutionality of the administration's attempts to deport him.
An immigration court judge, Jamee Comans, is overseeing his immigration proceedings, which determine more narrowly whether the United States has met the legal burden for deporting him. Mr. Khalil's next immigration court hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Over the weekend, friends and supporters of Mr. Khalil held a 'people's graduation' event in Manhattan, acknowledging that if he were free, he would have walked in a Columbia University commencement this week.
Mr. Khalil's wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, was there with the couple's infant son, Deen, who was born on April 21. Speaking through tears, Dr. Abdalla said she had looked forward to her husband getting to experience his commencement ceremony.
'Like witnessing the birth of our son, Deen, and the first precious month of his life, this moment was stolen from him,' she said.