Judge denies Trump bid to toss Columbia student’s challenge to arrest
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Protestors praying outside Columbia University in the US on March 14 during a demonstration to denounce the arrest of student Mahmoud Khalil.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK – A US judge on March 19 denied a bid by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismiss detained Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil’s challenge to the legality of his arrest by immigration agents over his participation in pro-Palestinian protests but moved the case to New Jersey.
Manhattan-based US District Judge Jesse Furman agreed with the US Justice Department that he did not have jurisdiction over the case.
District Judge Furman ordered the case moved to federal court in the state of New Jersey, where Mr Khalil was held at the time his lawyers first challenged his arrest in New York.
District Judge Furman did not rule on Mr Khalil’s bid to be released on bail from detention.
Neither Mr Khalil’s lawyers nor the US Justice Department immediately responded to requests for comment.
Mr Khalil, 30, was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on March 8 outside his university residence in Manhattan.
His lawyers have said he was targeted in retaliation for his role advocating for Palestinian rights, meaning the arrest violated free speech protections under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
The case has become a flashpoint for the Republican President’s pledge to deport some non-US citizens who took part in the protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza that swept American college campuses including Columbia
Mr Trump’s administration has said these protests included support for Hamas and anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students
Mr Khalil, who is of Palestinian descent, entered the US on a student visa in 2022, married his American citizen wife in 2023, and secured lawful permanent residency – known as a green card – in 2024.
Mr Khalil became one of the most visible leaders of Columbia’s pro-Palestinian protest movement while completing coursework for a master’s degree in public administration. He is due to graduate in May.
In ordering his removal, the administration has cited a little-used provision of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act allowing the deportation of any lawful permanent resident whose presence in the country the secretary of state has “reasonable grounds to believe” could harm US foreign policy.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 16 that taking part in “pro-Hamas events” runs counter to US foreign policy.
Mr Khalil’s lawyers have said their client has no ties to Hamas, and have said he acted as a “mediator and negotiator” during the protests.
They also have said the administration is unlawfully targeting non-US citizens for removal based on protected speech, and asked District Judge Furman to immediately release Mr Khalil.
Mr Khalil’s wife, Ms Noor Abdalla
Because the provision of the 1952 law used to justify Mr Khalil’s deportation has been invoked so infrequently, it has been tested just once before, legal experts said.
The late federal Judge Maryanne Trump Barry – Mr Trump’s older sister – found the provision unconstitutional in the 1990s in a case involving a former Mexican official wanted on criminal charges in his home country.
Ms Barry said non-citizens in the US legally could not be removed at the sole discretion of the secretary of state without a meaningful opportunity to be heard.
The administration of former US president Bill Clinton appealed that ruling and it was reversed on a technicality that did not address the law’s constitutionality. REUTERS
