A US judge has extended an order that prevents a Columbia University student from being deported

An order prohibiting the deportation of a Columbia University student has been extended by a US judge due to concerns regarding abuses of free expression.

In the case that has become a focal point of the Trump administration’s promise to deport certain pro-Palestinian campus activists, a US judge on Wednesday extended his injunction preventing federal authorities from deporting a detained Columbia University student.

In a written decision issued Wednesday during a hearing in federal court in Manhattan, US District Judge Jesse Furman extended the temporary ban on Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation, which he had put in place earlier this week to give himself more time to determine whether the arrest was unlawful.

According to a document reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security, Khalil, 30, might be deported under a law that states that citizens may be expelled if the US Secretary of State determines that their existence in the nation is incompatible with foreign policy.

According to the DHS letter dated March 9, Khalil was ordered to appear before an immigration judge on March 27 after the Secretary of State concluded that his presence or actions in the United States would have substantial negative foreign policy repercussions for the country.
Further information was not included in the document.

Comment inquiries were not immediately answered by the DHS. His arrest on Saturday by DHS agents outside his Manhattan university residence, according to Khalil’s attorneys, was a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech because it was a reprisal for his vocal opposition to Israel’s military attack on Gaza after the October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, a US designated terrorist organization.

“Because of his support for Palestinian rights, Mr. Khalil was identified, targeted, detained, and is being processed for deportation,” Khalil’s attorney, Ramzi Kassem, stated in court. Following the hearing, Khalil’s wife, Noora Abdalla, gave reporters her first interview with the media, expressing her hope that her husband would be released and return to New York in time for the birth of their first child, who is due next month.

She said, “It’s been really difficult without him here.”

“A lot of feelings and suffering are present. He has really been there for me at every turn.

The legal provision DHS cited was rarely utilized and was not intended to stifle opposition, Kassem said reporters outside the courthouse on Wednesday.

Khalil arrived in the United States on a student visa in 2022 and became a permanent resident last year after growing up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. He was a well-known figure in the Columbia protest movement against Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

Despite US President Donald Trump’s social media claims that Khalil backed Hamas, his administration has not brought charges against him or offered proof of Khalil’s purported Hamas membership.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses, including Columbia, have allegedly featured antisemitic harassment of Jewish students and support for Hamas, according to the Trump administration.

According to the organizers of the student protest, criticism of Israel is mistakenly confused with antisemitism.

Speaking to reporters earlier Wednesday while on a tour to Ireland, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated, “This is not about free speech.” “We would never have allowed you to enter our universities if you had told us that turning them upside down and supporting Hamas was your goal when you came to America.”

Where immigration courts draw the line between protected free speech and alleged support for organizations the US labels terrorists may be the ultimate test of this case.

Outside the courthouse in downtown Manhattan, hundreds of demonstrators gathered, shouting, “Down, down with deportation, up, up with liberation,” and brandishing posters that said, “Release Mahmoud Khalil.”

During the hearing, government attorney Brandon Waterman stated that Khalil’s appeal against his arrest needed to be transferred to either Louisiana, where he is presently being held, or New Jersey, where he was detained when his attorneys initially requested his transfer.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Furman also mandated that Khalil be permitted to have two one-hour private phone conversations with his attorneys. Kassem claimed that Khalil’s only previous phone conversation with a member of his legal team from Louisiana detention ended abruptly and was on a line that the government had recorded and was watching.

Before Furman rejected it, there was no sign that Khalil would be deported anytime soon.

Before a different judge in immigration court, Khalil has the right to argue his case against deportation—a potentially drawn-out procedure.