Judge won't order release of pro-Palestinian shit-stirring activist Mahmoud Khalil

A federal judge declined Friday to order the Trump administration to 
release pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention 
despite finding that the basis for his arrest and initial detention was 
illegal.

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled Wednesday that Secretary of 
State Marco Rubio’s decision to revoke Khalil’s green card and tee up his 
deportation was likely unconstitutional retaliation for his role 
organizing pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia University’s campus last 
year. But on Friday, Farbiarz said the administration could continue to 
keep Khalil detained in Louisiana, where he’s been locked up since March, 
on a separate alleged immigration violation that officials lodged after 
his arrest.

That violation was based on an allegation that Khalil failed to list prior 
employers and membership in certain organizations when he obtained his 
green card. Khalil and his attorneys say the second charge was linked to 
the same retaliation campaign.

But Farbiarz ruled Friday that the administration could continue to detain 
Khalil on the basis of that alleged paperwork violation.

“That second charge has not been preliminarily enjoined by the court,” 
Farbiarz wrote in response to a demand for clarity from Khalil’s 
attorneys.

Farbiarz’s ruling dashed the hopes of Khalil’s advocates that he might 
walk free Friday morning, when Farbiarz’s earlier order blocking his 
detention under the Rubio determination took effect.

“We are profoundly disappointed that Mahmoud has to bear any more delay 
and detention from this historically outrageous government conduct,” said 
Baher Azmy, an attorney for Khalil.

Farbiarz’s Friday ruling came despite his finding Wednesday that it was 
“overwhelmingly likely” that the alleged green card application violation 
was not the reason he was being held by immigration authorities. Rather, 
he said, the detention “almost surely flows from the charge that is based 
on the Secretary of State’s determination.”

The judge also noted Wednesday that people are rarely detained for the 
paperwork infraction Khalil is accused of.

“The evidence is that lawful permanent residents are virtually never 
detained pending removal for the sort of alleged omissions in a lawful-
permanent-resident application that the Petitioner is charged with here,” 
Farbiarz wrote in the initial ruling.

In his Friday order, Farbiarz noted that Khalil can seek a bond hearing 
from an immigration judge on the second charge.

An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled weeks ago that Khalil can be 
deported as a national security risk. Khalil is expected to appeal the 
immigration judge’s ruling.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/13/mahmoud-khalil-detention-ruling-
00405840