An activist who led pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University will remain detained in Louisiana following a brief Wednesday court hearing.
Judge Jesse Furman said he would grant a request by Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyers allowing them to have privileged phone calls with Khalil at least twice — today and tomorrow. Khalil was arrested by federal immigration authorities Saturday night at his university-owned apartment. Lawyers said in court Wednesday he was first brought to a detention center in New Jersey before being flown to another site in Louisiana.Â
Khalil’s attorneys said they have been unable to have privileged communications with him since. They said the detention facility holding Khalil wouldn’t allow that type of call until March 20.Â
The federal judge on Monday temporarily halted Mahmoud Khalil’s removal from the U.S., barring the government from deporting him before Wednesday’s hearing. Furman did not rule Wednesday on an effort by Khalil’s lawyers to have him moved closer to his New York home. In the meantime, Khalil will remain in detention in Louisiana.
Ted Shaffrey / AP
Amy Greer, Khalil’s attorney, said officials were acting on a State Department order to revoke Khalil’s student visa and green card. Khalil was sent to a detention center in Jena, Louisiana. He will not be present at the New York hearing, his lawyers said.
Khalil graduated in December with a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The 30-year-old is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.
Khalil’s wife said in a statement that, even before his arrest, “this last week has been a nightmare.”
She described experiencing “an intense and targeted doxxing campaign” focused on “spreading false claims about my husband that were simply not based in reality.” She said Khalil had been seeking legal help for that in the days before a federal agent approached them outside their apartment building and handcuffed Khalil.
President Trump said Monday that Khalil’s arrest was just the first “of many to come” amid the White House’s crackdown on students and alleged “agitators” protesting Israel’s war with the terror group Hamas.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Khalil was “given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges – and he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege by siding with terrorists.”
Leavitt alleged that Khalil had distributed flyers on Columbia’s campus that were “pro-Hamas.”Â
“We have a zero-tolerance policy of siding with terrorists, period,” Leavitt said.
While Khalil has been accused of making statements in support of Hamas, he has not been publicly accused of providing any material support. His lawyers say he’s being punished for exercising protected speech.
Khalil’s attorneys said Monday in a statement that Khalil was “chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent in violation of the First Amendment.”Â
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday morning that the case is “not about free speech,” adding “this is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with.”
“No one has a right to a student visa,” Rubio said. “No one has a right to a green card, by the way. So when you apply for student visa or any visa to enter the United States, we have a right to deny you for virtually any reason, but I think being a supporter of Hamas and coming into our universities and turning them upside down, and being complicit and what are clearly crimes of vandalization, complicit in shutting down learning institutions.”
Shortly after Khalil’s arrest, Rubio posted on social media that “we will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Khalil’s arrest came “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.Â
The arrest was criticized by some students and professors at Columbia University and led to protests in Manhattan. Supporters of Khalil also rallied across the street from the courthouse Wednesday, demanding his release.
Katrina Armstrong, the school’s interim president, called the arrest and the federal government’s suspension of $400 million in federal funds due to alleged antisemitism on campus “a challenging moment for our community” in a message to the Columbia University community on Monday. Â
“All eyes are on Columbia at present. It falls to us to ensure our University, and indeed the values of higher education more broadly, survive and thrive,” Armstrong wrote.
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