Above photo: Mahmoud Khalil. Writers Against the War on Gaza.
Following brief court hearing.
In a hearing in New York City on Wednesday, Mahmoud Khalil’s attorney’s said they have not been allowed to have contact with him since his detention. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s rationale for detaining Khalil continues to change.
Mahmoud Khalil will continue to be detained at an ICE facility in Louisiana following a brief hearing in New York City on Wednesday morning.
In response to a habeas corpus petition and a request to have him transferred back to New York, where he was arrested, federal judge Jesse Furman called for more briefs from Khalil’s lawyers and the U.S. government.
Trump attorneys informed the court that they will submit a motion to transfer or dismiss Khalil’s habeas corpus petition, as they view New York as “an improper venue” for the case and do not believe it has any jurisdiction.
Furman also ordered Khalil be allowed to communicate with his counsel over the course of the next two days as they prepare to meet legal deadlines. Khalil’s attorneys told the judge that they have been unable to speak with their client at all.
“We have literally not been able to confer with our client once since he was taken off the street of New York and taken 1,000 miles away to Louisiana,” one of Khalil’s lawyers, Ramzi Kassem, told Furman.
“It’s hard for us to continue the work the way we would normally,” he added.
Khalil did not appear in court by video or phone during the hearing, which saw a massive crowd of supporters gather outside.
BREAKING! New Yorkers rally outside of Mahmoud Khalil’s court conference in NYC. pic.twitter.com/E6sU4ProlV
— The People’s Forum (@PeoplesForumNYC) March 12, 2025
Shezza Abboushi Dallal, another one of Khalil’s attorneys, read a statement from Khalil’s pregnant wife.
“My husband was kidnapped from our home and it’s shameful that the United States government continues to hold him because he stood for the rights and lives of his people,” it read. “I demand his immediate release and return to our family. His disappearance has devastated our lives.”
Government’s shifting case
Last week the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detained Khalil over his participation in the Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University’s campus last spring.
The arrest took place despite the fact that Khalil is a permanent U.S. resident with a current green card. During his arrest, ICE agents informed him that it had been revoked by the U.S. government along with his student visa.
The Trump administration celebrated Khalil’s detention across social media. “This is the first arrest of many to come,” wrote President Trump in a Truth Social post. “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. Many are not students, they are paid agitators.”
On Monday Judge Furman temporarily blocked Khalil from being deported and ordered him to remain in the U.S. in order “to preserve the court’s jurisdiction.”
An early statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that Khalil would be prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws for his alleged support of Hamas, but the government has since revealed that it arrested him using a provision from the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
“An alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable,” reads that provision.
Sources with knowledge of the matter told the New York Times that, “Mr. Rubio’s argument is that the United States has a foreign policy of combating antisemitism around the world and that it would undermine this policy objective to tolerate Mr. Khalil’s continued presence in the United States.”
UPDATE — New documents reveal that indeed, the US government is basing its case to deport Mahmoud Khalil on Marco Rubio deciding that Khalil’s “presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” https://t.co/iNTDjNDaMR pic.twitter.com/lKnW4JMW2j
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) March 12, 2025
Ironically, as Andrew Silverstein notes in The Forward, this same INA provision was used to target Holocaust survivors suspected of being Soviet agents during the 1950s.
No lawful basis
“The First Amendment protects the right of the people to criticize the government, its policies, and foreign governments like Israel, period,” immigration attorney Eric Lee told Mondoweiss. “The claim that pro-Palestinian speech equates to “terrorism” is nothing more than a pretext and a lie.”
“There is no lawful basis whatsoever for these actions. Not only does it violate the free speech rights of non-citizens, it violates the rights of all US citizens,” he continued. “The First Amendment not only guarantees the right to speak, it guarantees the right to listen. Citizens have the right to listen to the anti-government or pro-Palestinian views of their non-citizen friends, coworkers and colleagues.”
Khalil’s detention has been condemned by human rights groups, activists, and lawmakers.
“Khalil’s constitutional rights have been violated. He has been denied meaningful access to counsel and any visitation from his family. This is absolutely unacceptable — and illegal,” reads a letter sent to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and 13 other House members.
“The arrest, detention, and attempted deportation of a prominent Palestinian human rights activist for his constitutionally protected activity that the administration disagrees with is not only patently unlawful, it is a further dangerous step into modern-day McCarthyist repression. The courts must stop this lawlessness before this chilling form of repression expands further,” said Center for Constitutional Rights Legal Director Baher Azmy in a statement.
Both the defense and prosecution will submit a joint letter to Judge Furman on Friday explaining their further plans for arguments in the case.