A federal judge handed Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil a pair of court wins Wednesday in his bid to avoid deportation, denying the Trump administration’s request to dismiss his petition and moving the case to New Jersey instead of Louisiana.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said Mr. Khalil was being detained in New Jersey when his attorney filed the habeas petition on March 9, after which the former Columbia graduate student was transferred to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Jena, Louisiana.
As a result, Judge Furman said the case properly belongs in New Jersey. He also refused to dismiss the petition while ruling that his court in the Southern District of New York is the wrong venue to hear the case.
“The Court agrees with the Government that Khalil’s Petition cannot be heard in this District and agrees with Khalil that it should be transferred to the District of New Jersey, not dismissed or transferred to the Western District of Louisiana,” said Judge Furman, an Obama appointee, in the opinion.
Mr. Khalil, a leader of last year’s raucous anti-Israel protests at Columbia, was arrested by Department of Homeland Security agents and marked for deportation based on the secretary of state’s finding that his continued presence “would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
Mr. Khalil entered the country on a student visa in December 2022 to attend Columbia’s School of Public and International Affairs and later gained a green card giving him permanent resident status last year. His wife is an American citizen.
His arrest has done little to temper his activism. In a Tuesday letter released by the American Civil Liberties Union, he called for pro-Gaza protesters to keep up the pressure.
“In the weeks ahead, students, advocates and elected officials must unite to defend the right to protest for Palestine,” he said. “At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all. Knowing fully that this moment transcends my individual circumstances, I hope nonetheless to be free to witness the birth of my first-born child.”
Mr. Khalil served as a leader of the pro-Palestinian protests that rocked the New York campus following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians. The Columbia protest included the mass “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” that was ultimately dismantled by police.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters swarmed New York City’s Times Square last weekend to demand Mr. Khalil’s release, one of several demonstrations spurred by his arrest.
The Trump administration has moved to deport at least two other Columbia students attending the university on student visas for “advocating for violence and terrorism,” the Homeland Security Department said in a Friday press release.
Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested last week on an expired student visa. She had also been arrested in April for participating in an anti-Israel protest.
A doctoral candidate, Ranjani Srinivasan of India, opted to supposedly self-deport after her student visa was revoked for “activities supporting Hamas.”
Now in Canada, she has denied the charge. Her lawyers told CBS News that she was mistakenly arrested in April during the Hamilton Hall takeover while trying to reach her apartment. She acknowledged she attended “a handful” of other pro-Palestinian protests.
Advocates for Mr. Khalil have argued that the government is punishing him for exercising his free-speech rights. The Trump administration has countered that there is no right for foreigners to live in the U.S. and that pro-Hamas activity is grounds for deportation.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “When you advocate for violence and terrorism, that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country. I am glad to see one of the Columbia University terrorist sympathizers use the CBP Home app to self-deport.”
