Judge allows Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil to remain detained
Pro-Palestinian protesters hold flags and signs at the Release Mahmoud Khaul, Hands Off Our Students, ICE off Our Campus rally in Lower Manhattan in New York City on March 10. ICE Immigration officers arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the protests at Columbia University against Israel's war in Gaza. File photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
June 13 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Trump administration can continue to detain Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, two days after he said foreign policy grounds for his detention are insufficient and likely unconstitutional.
Michael Farbiarz of the U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Newark made the decision after government lawyers presented a new filing. Farbiaz on Wednesday had stayed the preliminary injunction until Friday, giving the government time to appeal.
The government said continuing to detain Khalil does not violate the injunction because he is now being detained based on "other grounds," such as being undocumented when he entered the United States.
Also, they said Khalil could be held for failing to disclose all required information on his legal permanent resident application.
The administration said that "an alien like Khalil may be detained during the pendency of removal proceedings regardless of the charge of removability. Khalil may seek release through the appropriate administrative processes, first before an officer of the Department of Homeland Security, and secondly through a custody redetermination hearing before an immigration judge."
The judge, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said Khalil can seek his release through a "bail application to the immigration judge.
"To the extent the Petitioner requests relief from this Court, the request is denied," the judge ruled.
In April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a memo, citing an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The secretary of state can deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the country would result in "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."
On Wednesday, the judge said that while the Department of Homeland Security might have a stronger and enforceable claim to detain and deport Khalil, Rubio's determination is not enough to warrant his continued detention and eventual deportation.
Brett Max Kaufman, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, told NBC News: "The government practically never holds people in detention on a charge like this, and it's clear that the government is doing anything they can to punish Mahmoud for his speech about Palestine. We will not stop until he's home with his family."
Khalil, who was born in 1995, grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and was granted permanent U.S. resident status. He led pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year.
In March, he was arrested outside his student housing on campus and detained before the Trump administration accused him of leading "activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization."
He has not been charged with any crime.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Anti-Trump protests cap a week of free speech stress tests across America
Virtually every flashpoint in American politics right now involves the First Amendment right to free speech and free expression. Some of this tension is due to President Donald Trump, who vowed in his inaugural address to 'bring back free speech to America,' but who keeps showing that he wants some forms of speech to carry a great cost. From arrests of Palestinian activists to blitzes against universities to threats against demonstrators in Washington, DC, the Trump administration's actions and words have alarmed free speech organizations — and have fueled Saturday's 'No Kings' protests across the country. 'Trump's retaliation campaign against free speech has entered a new and even more dangerous phase,' Nora Benavidez, a civil rights and free speech attorney at the group Free Press, told CNN Friday. International human rights groups have taken notice. Amnesty International denounced Trump's recent claim that any protests during Saturday's Army parade would be met with 'very big force.' 'Now is a good moment to remind President Trump that protesting is a human right and that his administration is obligated to respect, protect, and fulfill the human rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly – not suppress them,' the group said in a statement. Between the military parade in DC and the anti-Trump demonstrations expected in all 50 states, Saturday is shaping up to be a huge show of — and test for — free speech rights. Ezra Levin, the co-founder of Indivisible, a progressive nonprofit, said Friday on CNN's 'Inside Politics' that 'we want to see people exercising their First Amendment rights, because when those rights are under threat, if you don't stand up in defense of them, you don't have those rights.' First Amendment freedoms — and concerns about whether they're being upheld — are a through-line of numerous legal battles and administration maneuvers. The editorial board of The Everett Herald in Washington state put it this way on Thursday: 'The First Amendment has been getting a workout in recent days. Even amid abuses of those rights, that's for the good.' It's also keeping advocacy groups very busy. Benavidez said the examples of Trump 'targeting perceived enemies and dissenting voices' with investigations and public intimidation are almost too extensive to list. 'This is all an escalation of the Trump administration's scheme to silence critics and weaken any institutional and societal checks against his abuse of power — all the while promoting a version of free speech that rewards capitulation and penalizes anything less,' she said. Trump officials and allies have repeatedly cited security risks while curtailing free speech rights, as in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate at the center of a high-profile deportation fight over his pro-Palestinian views. Security concerns were also invoked when Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference on Thursday. Rep. Nancy Pelosi condemned the handcuffing of Padilla by calling it 'an assault on freedom of speech in our country.' Press groups have also warned about potential First Amendment violations during the anti-ICE protests in L.A. and other cities. On Friday, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 60 media outlets, including CNN, sent a letter to federal, state, and local officials asking them to ensure that authorities uphold the rights of journalists to report on law enforcement activity without reprisal. These days, free versus restricted speech is not the relevant dividing line. Rather, it's favored versus disfavored speech — and Trump is very explicit about which is which. During his falling-out with Elon Musk, Trump said Musk would face 'very serious consequences' if he funded Democratic challengers to Republican candidates, a comment that many interpreted as a threat. In a recent interview with the New York Post, Trump boasted about 'getting rid of woke in our schools, our military, and just in our society,' claiming, 'You're not seeing woke anymore. It almost became illegal.' His recent assertion that masks are not allowed at protests was also seen, by civil liberties groups, as an infringement on the right to free expression. Meanwhile, the Trump administration's moves against media outlets like The Associated Press, Voice of America, NPR and PBS have spawned First Amendment lawsuits in recent weeks. Several of the targeted outlets cited Trump's claims about bias and 'fake news' to argue that the president committed viewpoint discrimination. Critics say various other actions — like deleting government websites and stripping books from shelves — have also been against the spirit, even when not against the letter, of the First Amendment. California Governor Gavin Newsom raised the subject in his address to the state on Tuesday night. Trump is 'delegitimizing news organizations and he's assaulting the First Amendment,' Newsom said. He concluded by telling residents, 'if you exercise your First Amendment rights, please, please do it peacefully.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Iran Fires Hundreds of Missiles at Israel as Conflict Escalates
(Bloomberg) -- Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an unprecedented attack on its nuclear facilities, escalating a conflict between sworn enemies that threatens to engulf the oil-rich Middle East. Shuttered NY College Has Alumni Fighting Over Its Future Trump's Military Parade Has Washington Bracing for Tanks and Weaponry NYC Renters Brace for Price Hikes After Broker-Fee Ban Do World's Fairs Still Matter? As Part of a $45 Billion Push, ICE Prepares for a Vast Expansion of Detention Space The Islamic Republic targeted Israel with 200 missiles and about 200 drones in four waves of strikes starting Friday evening, according to Israel's military, some of which breached the country's air defenses. US forces helped shoot down the projectiles. Israel maintained its own airstrikes into Saturday, and Defense Minister Israel Katz warned in a statement that 'Tehran will burn' if Iran's assault continues. The intensity of the fighting represents a turning point for both Israel and Iran, testing new limits in terms of their aggression and willingness to escalate. When the pair targeted each other on two occasions last year, there was a greater time lag and a sense that after an exchange of fire, there would be a détente. Israel has indicated this operation — aimed at derailing Iran's nuclear ambitions — could last for weeks, while Tehran has signaled no letup in its retaliation. Three people were killed in the Tel Aviv area and at least 40 were injured in multiple strikes, according to police and emergency services. There was video footage of at least one large explosion in Tel Aviv and reports of blasts over Jerusalem. The full extent of the damage is still being assessed. Israel's air defense systems, including the Iron Dome and David's Sling, boast an interception rate upward of 90%. If combined at varying altitudes, the chance of a successful shoot-down increases exponentially. Israel, which killed top Iranian generals and badly damaged key military infrastructure with its first strikes overnight Thursday, targeted Iran's defense systems on Friday and early Saturday. Four sites in the East Azerbaijan province were struck on Saturday, while several residential buildings in Tehran's suburbs have been hit, according to Iranian media. Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, where Iran's air force has a base and Iran Air, the national carrier, is headquartered, also came under attack, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, said 78 people have been killed and more than 320 wounded so far across the country. More than 200 aircraft participated in Israel's initial operation that hit around 100 locations, and another 50 have been struck since then. Markets have taken another hit from the surge in tensions: The S&P 500 lost more than 1% on Friday, wiping out this week's advance. West Texas Intermediate crude futures surged more than 7%, the most since March 2022. Gold and the dollar rose. The fighting casts doubt on the future of US negotiations with Iran on a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Tehran's atomic activities. The two sides have held five rounds of talks on a deal to impose restrictions in exchange for sanctions relief, but an agreement hasn't been reached. 'The other side has done something that makes dialog meaningless,' Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, said, although he didn't specify whether renewed negotiations scheduled to take place in Oman on Sunday would be called off. 'The attack on Iran's nuclear facilities will undoubtedly influence the country's future nuclear strategy,' Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Iran's former nuclear negotiator, posted on X. 'In fact, NATO, Israel, and the International Atomic Energy Agency have all played a role in paving the way for this strategic shift.' Further escalation — particularly any targeting of American military or diplomatic facilities in the region — could rally domestic political support for Iran's rulers and dramatically intensify the conflict. It's unclear if Tehran is entertaining last-resort options — such as blocking the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's vital oil arteries, a scenario that would ratchet up concern among investors. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to 'act forcefully' in a pre-recorded video message carried by state TV. Israel 'should not think that it is over. We won't allow them to escape unscathed from this great crime they have committed,' he said in a statement released after Iran started its retaliation. The semi-official Fars news agency citied an unnamed military official as saying the conflict will soon 'expand' beyond Israel to US bases in the region. So far, Iran has chosen to keep the US out of the conflict — a decision that an analysis by Bloomberg Economics suggested was the most likely since Tehran can't afford to go to war with the world's biggest economy and most powerful military. The damage to Iran's military command structure is considerable. The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, and the military's chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri, were both killed in Israeli strikes. At least two other senior IRGC members died and several nuclear facilities were targeted. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Aerospace division, was also slain, Iranian state TV reported. While Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday's attacks have derailed diplomacy, officials in the region are still pushing for a deescalation. In a phone call with Araghchi, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan called for 'the highest degrees of self-restraint' to prevent the circle of the conflict from widening. And Oman said its foreign minister is in contact with relevant countries to contain the 'tensions and the dangerous military escalation in the region caused by Israel's direct attacks on Iran,' according to the state-run news agency. Meanwhile, with the Group of Seven leaders gathering in the Canadian Rockies, the attention will focus on US President Donald Trump's reaction. Going into the summit, there was a common desire to keep fraught geopolitical issues off the table, but that will be difficult given the knock-on effects of a spike in oil prices on inflation and energy exports. The region is a big crossroads for shipping of oil and consumer goods, and any all-out war will further strain a global trading system disrupted by the trade tensions. Trump gave brief phone interviews to a smattering of journalists, but otherwise didn't take to the cameras to make public remarks. He warned Iran on social media to make a deal 'before it is too late.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone Friday to discuss the conflict, according to a White House official. --With assistance from Eltaf Najafizada, Galit Altstein, Jonathan Tirone, Dan Williams and Ethan Bronner. (Updates with details on strikes starting in second paragraph, comment from Israeli defense minister in third.) American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software New Grads Join Worst Entry-Level Job Market in Years As Companies Abandon Climate Pledges, Is There a Silver Lining? US Tariffs Threaten to Derail Vietnam's Historic Industrial Boom ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump's Deportations Aren't What They Seem
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. From the beginning, Donald Trump's approach to deportations has been about both removing people from the country and the spectacle of removing people from the country. If any doubt lingered about the president's commitment to the cause, he erased it in Los Angeles, where his response to the widespread protests against a series of ICE raids—he has dispatched roughly 4,000 California National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines, all against the wishes of the state's governor—has been an extraordinary (and extraordinarily excessive) demonstration of force. Trump's message has been clear: No matter who or what tries to get in the way, his administration will push forward with deportations. L.A. is 'the first, perhaps, of many' military deployments in the United States, Trump said earlier this week. The spectacle part, Trump has down. The president has ushered in one of the most aggressive immigration campaigns in recent American history. The ICE raids in L.A. are just the latest of many high-profile instances in which federal law-enforcement officials have antagonized and rounded up suspected undocumented immigrants—some of whom are citizens or legal residents. Hundreds of immigrants have been swept away to what functionally is a modern Gulag in El Salvador, and the administration has recently tried to send others to South Sudan, which is on the verge of civil war. Enforcing immigration policy does not have to be inhumane, but the Trump administration is gloating in the very barbarity. Amid all the bravado, however, the administration much more quietly has been struggling to deliver on Trump's campaign promise to 'launch the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America.' So far, deportations have not dramatically spiked under Trump, though daily rates have been on the rise in recent weeks. According to government data obtained by The New York Times, the administration has deported more than 200,000 people since Trump's return to office, well below the rate needed to meet the White House's reported goal of removing 1 million unauthorized immigrants in his first year in office. If the pace over the first five months of Trump's presidency continues through the end of the year, total deportations would only slightly exceed that of President Barack Obama in fiscal year 2012. The discrepancy is surprising. Given the visibility of Trump's efforts, you'd be forgiven for believing deportations were unfolding on a never-before-seen scale. The actual numbers don't diminish the cruelty of Trump's approach or the pain his administration has caused to those it has targeted. But they do reveal Trump's ever-increasing mastery of bending perceptions of reality. The administration's immigration tactics are so shocking, callous, and inescapable that they have generated the appearance of mass deportations. Paranoid rumors of ICE agents hovering around playgrounds, waiting to arrest noncitizen nannies, have spread. Some immigrants have opted to self-deport instead of subjecting themselves to the potential horrors of ICE detainment and deportation. No reason exists to think the White House has been deliberately falling behind on its deportation promise. The administration has run into several challenges: The easiest migrants to deport are those who have just crossed the border, and unauthorized immigration has dropped significantly since Trump took office. (Trump's deportation approach and rhetoric has, in other words, seemingly been successful at keeping people out of the country in the first place.) At times, ICE has faced detention space constraints, and some of the administration's deportations have been stymied in the courts. In an email, the White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wrote, 'President Trump has already secured the border in record time and is now fulfilling his promise to deport illegal aliens.' The administration plans to use a 'full-of-government approach to ensure the efficient mass deportation of terrorist and criminal illegal aliens.' In Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' that is working its way through Congress, Republican lawmakers are set to give ICE a massive funding injection to help the agency finally carry out mass deportations. 'If that money goes out, the amount of people they can arrest and remove will be extraordinary,' Paul Hunker, who was formerly ICE's lead attorney in Dallas, told my colleague Nick Miroff. [Read: We're about to find out what mass deportation really looks like] For now, Trump is faking it until he makes it, with his administration doing everything it can to draw attention to its immigration tactics. Yesterday, federal agents handcuffed and forcibly removed Senator Alex Padilla of California just after he interrupted an immigration press conference featuring Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. In March, Noem had generated a previous viral moment when she traveled to the El Salvador megaprison where the administration has sent hundreds of supposed gang members, and gave remarks in front of shirtless, tattooed prisoners. The administration has even brought along right-wing media figures for its ICE arrests, producing further images of its immigration enforcement. Phil McGraw—the former host of Dr. Phil, who now hosts a show for MeritTV, a right-wing network he founded—was at ICE headquarters in L.A. the same day of the immigration sweeps in the city that prompted the protests last week. Consider, too, the shocking ways in which the administration has discussed the deportation campaign on social media. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security posted an image styled like a World War II propaganda flyer, urging Americans to 'report all foreign invaders' to a DHS hotline. The White House's X account has created a meme about a crying woman in ICE custody, and uploaded a video of a deportee boarding a plane in clanking shackles with the caption 'ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight.' [Read: The gleeful cruelty of the White House X account] In one sense, all of this is just classic political spin. Instead of admitting that it's falling behind on one of its core promises, the White House is attempting to control the narrative. But the scale of reality-warping going on in this case is hard to fathom. Trump's actions are part of a larger way in which he has come to understand that he can sway the nation with the right viral imagery. When he was indicted on racketeering and other charges and forced to take a mug shot in 2023, Trump glowered into the camera instead of looking embarrassed or guilty, generating an image that became the subject of viral memes and campaign merchandise—and seemingly inspired his second presidential portrait, in which he strikes the same glowering pose. When he came within inches of dying during the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania last summer, he had the instincts to produce one of the most significant images in modern American history. The series of videos, pictures, and aggressive actions his administration has taken regarding deportations are of the same genre. Trump takes the reality in front of him and does what he can to create a perception closer to what he wants: in this case, one of fear and terror. This is authoritarian behavior. Trump is marshaling propaganda to mislead Americans about what is really happening. Other recent strongmen leaders, such as Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines and Viktor Orbán in Hungary, have used a similar playbook. If Trump can't remove as many immigrants as he promised, the president can still use his talent for warping perceptions to make it feel as though he is. Laws don't need to change for free speech to be chilled, for immigrants to flee, and for people to be afraid. Article originally published at The Atlantic
