Mahmoud Khalil made an appearance in an isolated central Louisiana immigration court Friday morning — although a federal judge decided Wednesday that his case must be handled in New Jersey going forward.
The session was brief and his next hearing was scheduled for April 8, according to The Associated Press.
Khalil is a Palestinian activist and 2024 Columbia University graduate who helped mediate between students and the school’s leaders during the last year and a half of campus protests. Two weeks ago, he was seized by plainclothes Department of Homeland Security officers without a warrant, detained in New Jersey, and then transferred to another detention facility in Louisiana.
The order came straight from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump in an apparent attempt to deport Khalil — despite the fact that he is a lawful permanent resident, a green card holder, and the spouse of an American citizen about to give birth to their first child.
Students, legal experts, and civil advocates have denounced Khalil’s detention as an unlawful violation of First Amendment and due process rights.
Lawmakers are demanding answers too, including Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), according to Trenton Journal and AsAmNews.
In the case’s latest update, federal judge Jesse Furman blocked Khalil’s immediate deportation and required that his case be brought back to New Jersey for full proceedings. There is also a chance Khalil himself can be relocated to the state, which would be a relief to his supporters, given Louisiana’s harsh incarceration conditions and the distance from Khalil’s family, The New Arab reports.
Judge Furman’s ruling also means that any appeals in the case will not be as likely to end up in a conservative-leaning court, which was the intent of Trump administration lawyers in sending Khalil to Louisiana, according to NPR.
While Khalil’s struggle continues, the full iceberg underneath his detention is coming to the surface: two more students were detained this week, and 22 others have been expelled, suspended, or had their degrees revoked.
After Khalil, the second detainee was Leqaa Kordia, another Palestinian student at Columbia involved in campus protests who DHS accused of overstaying her student visa. The third was Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow in peace and conflict studies at Georgetown University who is married to a U.S. citizen with Palestinian heritage.
A Republican-led House committee also tried to pressure Columbia and neighboring Barnard College to hand over student disciplinary records. However, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ordered that both schools refrain from complying while he decides the result of a temporary restraining order filed by Khalil and other students, AP reported.
Between the three arrests and dozens of punishments that have happened thus far, the common link is clear: students’ outspoken views against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which resumed earlier this week and officially broke the ceasefire.
To pull off its deportations, the Trump administration is relying on moving as fast as possible to evade the courts. It is also seeking edge cases in immigration law that would formalize anyone who supports Palestine as a threat to U.S. foreign policy, according to MSNBC.
In his first public statement since the arrest, Mahmoud Khalil described himself as a political prisoner and said that everyone’s civil liberties are at stake right now.
“Who has the right to have rights?” he asked in a letter dictated over the phone, per the ACLU. “It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here … Justice escapes the contours of this nation’s immigration facilities.”
In the backdrop of Mahmoud Khalil’s case, the Trump administration also gave Columbia a list of demands that it must accept in order to continue receiving federal funding — of which Trump already rescinded $400 million.
The new demands include banning masks on campus, consolidating disciplinary power, and ceding control of its entire Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department into an academic receivership, AP explains.
A receivership vests oversight powers in an outside party when an institution suffers from dysfunction. In an academic department, it is usually a last-resort that is handled internally, The New York Times reports.
Instead, this one comes via a directive from the White House — and in the same breath as President Trump grasps for more control in his attempt to shut down the Department of Education without approval from Congress.
Columbia was given until the end of last week to accept the changes. As the deadline was extended from Thursday to Friday, the school’s response was still not yet clear, though some reports said the board of trustees was close to yielding to the demands.
Finally, at the eleventh hour, the university announced it will give in to nearly all the changes, according to the Independent.
Other colleges and universities around the country are well aware that they could be next in line for scrutiny and a funding ultimatum from the Trump administration.
Some have already expressed their willingness to comply with any immigration requests, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Others are reaffirming their commitment to student safety, such as Keene State College in New Hampshire, which said it would not allow any immigration officers on campus without a judicial warrant, La Noticia reports.
Students’ personal and academic information is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act unless they give written consent or there is a court order. These protections extend to sharing data with immigration officers, per La Noticia.
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Education funding is at risk and students of color are under threat – URL Media
The case pulling at the thread of the U.S. constitutional order – Epicenter NYC
Foreign students in U.S. warned against traveling on spring break – AsAmNews
Detained or Deported: Growing List of Immigrants with Legal Status Caught in Crackdowns – Documented
