Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil will remain in ICE detention in Louisiana after first court hearing

Prominent Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil will remain in an ICE 
detention facility in Louisiana for now following a procedural hearing in 
New York, days after he was arrested by federal officials at his Columbia 
University residence in an attempt by the Trump administration to deport 
him.

Khalil was arrested and detained on Saturday over his role in protests 
against the Israel-Hamas war at Columbia University last spring. His green 
card was revoked by the Trump administration, his lawyer said, but New 
York federal Judge Jesse Furman blocked any immediate effort to deport 
Khalil until his attorneys and the federal government appear in court.

In court Wednesday, Furman ordered that Khalil be allowed at least one 
call Wednesday and one Thursday with his counsel as they prepare to meet 
briefing deadlines, after his attorneys asked the court to help them gain 
better access to their client.

“We literally have not been able to confer with our client once since he 
was taken off the streets of New York City,” Ramzi Kassem, an attorney for 
Khalil, said.

“He was taken by US government agents in retaliation, essentially, for 
exercising his First Amendment rights, for speaking up in defense of 
Palestinians in Gaza and beyond, for being critical of the US government 
and of the Israeli government,” Kassem said outside court following the 
hearing Wednesday.

Khalil’s move to Louisiana was “further retaliation,” Kassem said, for 
exercising his constitutional right to file a habeas corpus petition.

Department of Justice attorneys said at the hearing they will attempt to 
move the proceedings out of New York to New Jersey, where Khalil was 
initially taken after his arrest, or Louisiana, where he is currently 
detained.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/12/us/mahmoud-khalil-trump-columbia-
university/index.html