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The Hill
25-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump administration had no arrest warrant for Mahmoud Khalil, court filings show
The Trump administration had no arrest warrant for former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil when he was detained, court documents on Thursday showed. In the documents, the government said the federal officials 'had exigent circumstances to conduct the warrantless arrest' against Khalil and that the former lead negotiator for the pro-Palestinian arrest at Columbia was 'a flight risk.' 'The agents had reason to believe that the respondent was likely to escape before a warrant could be obtained,' the federal government said in the court filing. Video footage of the rest from Khalil's wife shows him peacefully leaving with the officers, saying, 'I'm coming with you.' 'In DHS' filing in immigration court this week, we learned for the first time that the DHS agents who arrested Mahmoud lied to him: they wrote in their arrest report that the agents told him that they had an arrest warrant, but DHS has now admitted in their filing that that was a lie and that there was no warrant at all at the time of the arrest,' said Marc Van Der Hout of Van Der Hout, one of Khalil's lawyers. The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment. Khalil's lawyers are fighting in federal court for Khalil to receive bail and a preliminary injunction to bring him back to New Jersey from Louisiana. The fight is taking place after an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled the proceedings against Khalil could continue under the government's argument the secretary of state has the right to order the deportation of noncitizens if they pose a threat to the foreign policy of the United State. The government has also argued Khalil did not disclose on his permanent residency application previous employers such as his position at the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut. 'ICE has admitted it detained Mahmoud illegally and without a warrant– to justify it, they are now flat out lying with an absurd claim that he tried to flee. At every step of the way, the Trump administration has flouted the law,' said Samah Sisay, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICE agents lacked arrest warrant for Mahmoud Khalil when they detained him
Federal immigration authorities did not have a warrant for the arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil when he was taken into custody in the lobby of his Columbia University-owned apartment building last month, according to new filings Thursday in federal court. Marc Van Der Hout, one of Khalil's lawyers, accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of misleading their client. Court documents show the feds logged in their arrest report that agents told Khalil there was a warrant for his arrest — yet the latest filings suggest no warrant was executed until he was transported down to an ICE office in Lower Manhattan for processing. 'The government's admission is astounding,' Van Der Hout said in a statement, 'and it is completely outrageous that they tried to assert to the immigration judge — and the world — in their initial filing of the arrest report that there was an arrest warrant when there was none.' In response, Van Der Hout called on the immigration court to terminate proceedings. The judge in that case, Jamee E. Comans, ruled earlier this month that Khalil could be forced out of the country as a foreign policy risk. The Trump administration maintains that an immigration arrest without a warrant was not unusual, stating: 'It is the pattern and practice of DHS to fully process a respondent once in custody.' The Department of Homeland Security and ICE, which is under the umbrella of DHS, did not immediately return a request for comment. 'Generally, a warrant of arrest must be obtained,' the court documents read. 'However, an exception to the warrant requirement exists where the immigration officer has reason to believe that the individual is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.' The filings were made ahead of a deadline this week in Khalil's immigration case in Louisiana, which gave the Trump administration more time to submit evidence on its second ground for deporting Khalil: claims that he made misrepresentations on his green card application. Lawyers for Khalil deny the claims. Separately, the federal judge in Khalil's case in New Jersey — an independent legal action where the activist is challenging the constitutionality of his detention — asked for copies of the filings the following day, on Thursday. Khalil also submitted an application for asylum in the United States, which was sealed to the public, his lawyers said. Amy Greer, another lawyer for Khalil — who he had retained in response to a separate Columbia disciplinary action prior to being detained by the feds — said she was on the phone with Khalil, his wife and an agent on the night of the arrest. 'Those agents repeatedly failed to show us a warrant,' Greer said. 'Today we now know why they never showed Mahmoud that warrant — they didn't have one.' As part of their rationale for a warrantless arrest, the government offered new claims that Khalil refused to cooperate with the federal agents and threatened to 'leave the scene.' The supervisory agent, the court filings said, 'believed there was a flight risk and arrest was necessary.' Khalil's lawyers denied the new allegations: 'No one should take seriously the government's patent lie, which it offers for the first time many weeks after the fact, that somehow Mahmoud was anything other than compliant when ICE agents unlawfully abducted him under cover of darkness,' said Ramzi Kassem, co-director of CLEAR, and another lawyer for Khalil. Khalil continues to be held in an ICE detention facility in Jena, La., where he missed the birth of his first child on Monday after federal authorities denied his request for temporary release. Khalil, 30, was detained by ICE agents on March 8 after returning home to his Columbia-owned apartment from an iftar dinner with his wife, a U.S. citizen from the Midwest. He was living in the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident with a green card. He was set to graduate in May after completing his master's at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs in December. The student played a leading role in last year's campus protests about the rising death toll in Gaza in Israel's war against Hamas and the university's investment ties to Israel, acting as a mediator between Columbia administrators and student protesters. The government has not accused Khalil of committing any crimes. It says that even if Khalil's actions in the U.S. were 'otherwise lawful,' his political beliefs could have unfavorable repercussions for the Trump administration's foreign policy objectives. Khalil was the first international student targeted in the current crackdown, which has seen hundreds detained, including a Russian scientist working on groundbreaking cancer research at Harvard who has been in ICE detention for two months.
Asharq Al-Awsat
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Columbia University Activist Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported, Immigration Judge Rules
Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be forced out of the country as a national security risk, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled Friday after lawyers argued the legality of deporting the activist who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The government's contention that Khalil's presence in the US posed "potentially serious foreign policy consequences" satisfied requirements for deportation, Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans said at a hearing in Jena. Comans said the government had "established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable." After the immigration court hearing, Khalil attorney Marc Van Der Hout told a New Jersey federal judge that Khalil will appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals within weeks. "So nothing is going to happen quickly," he said. Addressing the judge at the end of the immigration hearing, Khalil recalled her saying at a hearing earlier in the week that "there's nothing more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness." "Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process," he added. "This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to the court, 1,000 miles away from my family." Van Der Hout also criticized the hearing's fairness. "Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent," Van Der Hout said in a statement. Khalil, a legal US resident, was detained by federal immigration agents March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under President Donald Trump's promised crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. Within a day, he was flown across the country to an immigration detention center in Jena, far from his attorneys and wife, a US citizen due to give birth soon. Khalil's lawyers have challenged the legality of his detention, saying the Trump administration is trying to block free speech protected by the First Amendment. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify Khalil's deportation, which gives him power to deport those who pose "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States." At Friday's hearing, Van Der Hout told the judge that the government's submissions to the court prove the attempt to deport his client "has nothing to do with foreign policy" and said the government is trying to deport him for protected speech. Khalil, a Palestinian born and raised in Syria after his grandparents were forcibly removed from their ancestral home in Tiberias, isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The government, however, has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and "pro-Hamas," referring to the Palestinian armed group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Khalil, a 30-year-old international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The university summoned police to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn't among those arrested. But images of his maskless face at protests and his willingness to share his name with reporters have drawn scorn from those who viewed the protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused Khalil of "siding with terrorists" but has yet to cite any support for the claim. Federal judges in New York and New Jersey have ordered the government not to deport Khalil while his case plays out in multiple courts. The Trump administration has said it is taking at least $400 million in federal funding away from research programs at Columbia and its medical center to punish it for not adequately fighting what it considers to be antisemitism on campus. Some Jewish students and faculty complained about being harassed during the demonstrations or ostracized because of their faith or their support of Israel. Immigration authorities have cracked down on other critics of Israel on college campuses, arresting a Georgetown University scholar who had spoken out on social media about the Israel-Gaza war, canceling the student visas of some protesters and deporting a Brown University professor who they said had attended the Lebanon funeral of a leader of Hezbollah, another armed group that has fought with Israel.
Korea Herald
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, immigration judge finds
Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be kicked out of the US as a national security risk, an immigration judge in Louisiana found Friday during a hearing over the legality of deporting the activist who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The government's contention that Khalil's presence in the US posed 'potentially serious foreign policy consequences' was enough to satisfy requirements for his deportation, Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans said at the conclusion of a hearing in Jena, Louisiana. Comans said the government had 'established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable.' Lawyers for Khalil said they plan to keep fighting. The judge gave them until April 23 to seek a waiver. After the immigration court hearing, Khalil attorney Marc Van Der Hout told a federal judge in New Jersey that Khalil will appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals after the immigration judge issues the final written ruling. He said lawyers can also pursue an asylum case on Khalil's behalf. 'So nothing is going to happen quickly in the immigration proceeding even though she's found him removable on the foreign policy grounds,' he said. Addressing the judge at the end of the immigration hearing, Khalil mentioned that she said at a hearing earlier in the week that 'there's nothing more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness." "Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,' he added. Van Der Hout, also criticized the hearing's fairness. 'Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent," Van Der Hout said in a statement. Khalil, a legal US resident, was detained by federal immigration agents March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under President Donald Trump's promised crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. Within a day, he was flown across the country and taken to an immigration detention center in Jena, thousands of miles from his attorneys and wife, a US citizen who is due to give birth soon. Khalil's lawyers have challenged the legality of his detention, saying the Trump administration is trying to crack down on free speech protected by the US Constitution. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify Khalil's deportation, which gives him power to deport those who pose 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.' At Friday's hearing, Van Der Hout told the judge that the government's submissions to the court prove the attempt to deport his client 'has nothing to do with foreign policy' and said the government is trying to deport him for activity that is protected by the First Amendment. They said an immigration judge could determine if Khalil is subject to deportation and then conduct a bail hearing afterward if it is found that he is not. Khalil isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The government, however, has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and 'pro-Hamas,' referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Khalil, a 30-year-old international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The university brought police in to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn't among the people arrested in connection with the demonstrations. But images of his maskless face at protests, along with his willingness to share his name with reporters, have made him an object of scorn among those who saw the protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused Khalil of 'siding with terrorists' but has yet to cite any support for the claim. Federal judges in New York and New Jersey have ordered the government not to deport Khalil while his case plays out in court. The Trump administration has said it is taking at least $400 million in federal funding away from research programs at Columbia and its medical center to punish it for not doing enough to fight what it considers to be antisemitism on campus. Some Jewish students and faculty complained about being harassed during the demonstrations or ostracized because of their faith or their support of Israel. Immigration authorities have cracked down on other critics of Israel on college campuses, arresting a Georgetown University scholar who had spoken out on social media about the Israel-Gaza war, canceling the student visas of some protesters and deporting a Brown University professor who they said had attended the Lebanon funeral of a leader of Hezbollah, another militant group that has fought with Israel. (AP)
Al Arabiya
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
US given one day to show evidence for deporting Columbia University protester Khalil
An immigration judge on Tuesday gave the US government a day to show evidence that Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil should be deported and said she would rule on the case on Friday, a month after his arrest in New York and transfer to a rural Louisiana jail 1,200 miles (1,931.21 km) away. 'If he's not removable, I'm going to be terminating this case on Friday,' Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans said during a hearing at the LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana. If the government's deportation case is terminated at the hearing scheduled for Friday afternoon, Khalil, 30, is free under immigration law. The government cannot challenge the termination, but if the judge terminates the case without prejudice it can attempt to file the removal case again. Khalil sat at a table in the courtroom, wrapping prayer beads around his right hand as he listened to his attorney Marc Van Der Hout appear remotely from California on a nearby screen to tell the court he had not received a single document of the government's evidence. 'There's nothing more important to this court than Mr. Khalil's due process rights,' Comans told Van Der Hout after he asked for more time to review the government's evidence. 'I'm also not going to keep Mr. Khalil detained while attorneys go back and forth about documents.' Department of Homeland Security lawyers told Comans they would provide the evidence by her 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline. In a statement later, Khalil's attorney Van Der Hout said he was concerned the judge would rule without giving the defense time to respond to the government's case, a concern he had raised earlier in court. 'What this case is really about is whether lawful permanent residents - and other immigrants to this country - can speak out about what is happening in Gaza, or any other important matters of discussion in the national discourse without fear of deportation for expressing beliefs that are completely protected by the First Amendment,' Van Der Hout said. 'Are US citizens going to be next?' The First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the right to free speech and assembly. President Donald Trump's administration says it has revoked Khalil's status as a lawful permanent resident under a 1952 law allowing the deportation of any immigrant whose presence in the country the secretary of state deems harmful to US foreign policy. The US government also has said the pro-Palestinian demonstrator should be forced out from the country because he withheld information from his application for a green card, which he has denied. During Tuesday's hearing, Comans read the government's allegations, and Van Der Hout responded with 'deny' to each. The immigration case is separate from a challenge to the legality of his March arrest, known as a habeas corpus petition. A US district judge hearing Khalil's habeas petition has ruled that he must remain in the US for now while he considers Khalil's petition to either free him or move him to New Jersey. If Comans rules on Friday that Khalil can be deported, he would then be able to ask her to rule on whether he is eligible for 'relief from removal,' which can be granted in limited cases, including a fear of persecution in the immigrant's home country. Khalil can also appeal her rulings. Since Khalil's arrest Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he has revoked the visas of hundreds of foreign students. The Trump administration says college protests against US military support for Israel have included harassment of Jewish students. Student protest organizers, including some Jewish groups, say criticism of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism. Khalil, a Palestinian born in a refugee camp in Syria, has called himself a political prisoner. His lawyers have argued the Trump administration improperly targeted him for his political views in violation of his right to free speech guaranteed by the US Constitution's First Amendment. Khalil's wife, Noor Abdalla, is a US citizen, and due to give birth to their first child this month. She has not been able to travel to Louisiana to visit him due to her pregnancy. The hearing had been delayed nearly a half hour because the judge could not find some of Khalil's lawyers among what she said was nearly 600 people trying to access the video feed, evidence of the high interest in the case. The judge allowed in only lawyers and, at Khalil's request, his wife.
