Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil was released from US immigration detention, where he had been held for more than three months over his activism against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Khalil, the most high profile of the students to be arrested by the Trump administration for their pro-Palestinian activism, and the last of them still in detention, was ordered to be released by a federal judge on Friday afternoon from an Ice facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he has been held since shortly after plainclothes immigration agents detained him in early March in the lobby of his Columbia building.

The 30-year-old emerged from the remote detention center just after 6.30pm local time, walking through two towering gates topped with razor wire and accompanied by two attorneys into the late afternoon sun and intense humidity.

He briefly addressed the small group of media assembled outside, which included the Guardian.

“Although justice prevailed it’s very long overdue and this shouldn’t have taken three months,” he said. “I leave some incredible men behind me, over 1,000 people behind me, in a place where they shouldn’t have been.”

Asked by the Guardian to respond to allegations made by the Trump administration, which has fought for months to keep him detained, that his pro-Palestinian organizing constituted a national security threat, he said:

“Trump and his administration, they chose the wrong person for this. That doesn’t mean there is a right person for this. There is no right person who should be detained for actually protesting a genocide.”

Khalil told reporters he was looking forward to returning home to spend time with his infant son, who was born while his father was detained. “I can actually hug him,” Khalil said.

The federal judge, Michael Farbiarz, said during the hearing on Friday that Khalil is not a flight risk, and “is not a danger to the community. Period, full stop.”

“It is highly, highly unusual to be seeking detention of a petitioner given the factual record of today,” Farbiarz also said during the hearing.

Farbiarz said that the government had “clearly not met” the standards for detention.

Later on Friday, Khalil was ordered to surrender his passport and green card to Ice officials in Jena as part of his conditional release. The order also stipulated that Khalil’s travel be limited to a handful of US states, including New York, as Louisiana, Michigan and New Jersey for court appearances.

The judge’s order gave Khalil a 6.30pm CT deadline to surrender his travel documents before release.

Khalil’s arrest was widely decried as a dangerous escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against speech protected by the first amendment to the US constitution. Khalil has not been charged with a crime.

His detention was the first in a series of arrests of international student activists, and his release marks the latest in a series of defeats for the administration, which had promised to deport pro-Palestinian international students en masse.

Three other students detained on similar grounds – Rümeysa Öztürk, Badar Khan Suri and Mohsen Mahdawi – were previously released while their immigration cases are pending. A number of others voluntarily left the country after deportation proceedings against them were opened; another is in hiding as she fights her case.

Farbiarz, of the federal district court in Newark, New Jersey, had previously found that the law invoked to detain Khalil – a rarely used immigration provision allowing the secretary of state to order the deportation of anyone found to have an adverse effect on US foreign policy – is probably unconstitutional.

Government officials had accused Khalil of antisemitism and of pro-Hamas advocacy, without providing any evidence. Jewish students and faculty had submitted court documents on Khalil’s behalf, and he was quoted last year on CNN saying that “the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand, and you cannot achieve one without the other”.

Farbiaz ordered Khalil’s release in his federal court case, which was brought to challenge his detention. His immigration case will proceed on a separate track. While the government has suffered setbacks to its foreign policy argument in multiple courts, it is likely to continue arguing that its efforts to deport Khalil are also supported by alleged omissions in his green card application – arguments it brought several weeks after he was first detained, and which his attorneys have refuted.

Khalil is married to a US citizen, Noor Abdallah, who gave birth to their first child during her husband’s detention. “I fight for you, and for every Palestinian child whose life deserves safety, tenderness and freedom,” Khalil wrote to his newborn son, Deen, last month in a letter first published in the Guardian. “I hope one day you will stand tall knowing your father was not absent out of apathy, but out of conviction.”

In a statement provided by Khalil’s lawyers, Abdalla said she can finally “breathe a sigh of relief” after the ruling.

“We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others, but today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family.”

In response to the news that the judge had ordered Khalil to be released on Friday, Amnesty International USA celebrated the decision, calling it “overdue” and called on the Trump administration to “immediately comply with this order”.

The Trump administration is barred from deporting and continuing to detain anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

New Jersey federal Judge Michael Farbiarz issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting federal officials from booting the Columbia University rabble rouser from the country, arguing that the admin’s reasoning that Khalil’s continued presence would pose a risk to foreign policy was not sufficient, according to court documents obtained by The Post.

4 Mahmoud Khalil can no longer be detained or deported, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. AP

Farbiarz ordered that the legal US resident be freed from custody as early as Friday, asserting that his continued detention is causing irreparable harm to his career, his family and his constitutional right to free speech.

The Department of Homeland Security has until Friday morning to appeal the decision.

Khalil – a 30-year-old green card-holding Palestinian born in Syria – was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at his Columbia-funded Manhattan apartment in March following a federal crackdown on anti-Israel demonstrators at university campuses nationwide.

The New York resident, who is also a citizen of Algeria, was then shipped off to a Louisiana migrant detention center – thousands of miles away from his lawyers and US citizen wife, who gave birth to their first child while he was awaiting deportation.

The Trump administration claims the new dad, who served as a spokesman for anti-Israel groups including Columbia University Apartheid Divest, engaged in activities “aligned to Hamas,” the Palestinian terror group.

The radical activist group is responsible for the riotous takeover at Columbia’s Hamilton Hall last April.

4 Judge Michael Farbiarz, of New Jersey, issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting federal officials from booting the Columbia University graduate from the country. Senate Judiciary Committee

“When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, take over buildings and deface property, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday following the ruling.

Khalil’s lawyers have been fighting the arrest both in immigration court and in New Jersey federal court — arguing that his seizure violated the First Amendment right to free speech, since the government allegedly targeted him for his anti-Israel activities.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security invoked an obscure law that allows a Secretary of State to deport noncitizens who potentially threaten US foreign policy.

4 President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One to depart for Alabama, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, May 1, 2025. REUTERS

Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously argued that Khalil’s presence undermines “US policy to combat antisemitism” and his participation in “antisemetic protests” fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students across the country.

He has also claimed that the Trump administration has authority to deport noncitizens whose presence hurts US foreign policy interests.

An immigration judge in Louisiana, where Khalil’s case is also being heard, ruled in April that he can be deported based on Rubio’s justifications, but Farbiarz, the federal judge, had temporarily blocked his deportation while the case played out.

A spokesperson for the White House reiterated Rubio’s claims in response to the judge’s ruling Wednesday.

4 Protestors gather to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil at Foley Square on March 10, 2025 in New York City. Getty Images

“While in the United States, Khalil has consistently engaged in conduct detrimental to American foreign policy interests including ongoing support for Hamas and harassment of Jewish students on campus,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “The law authorizes the Secretary of State to revoke green cards of individuals who pose a threat to American foreign-policy interests.”

Both the White House and the DHS said the admin plans to fight the ruling.

“The district court order, entered without jurisdiction, will not be the final word,” Jackson said.

“We expect a higher court to vindicate us in this. We have the Constitution, the facts, and common sense on our side,” McLaughlin said.

US releases Mohsen Mahdawi, detained Columbia student activist

Watch: Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi released in Vermont

The US government says he was undermining US foreign policy. Luna Droubi, one of his lawyers, argued that the arrest was “in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian”.

Mohsen Mahdawi, who has permanent US residency or “green card” status, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) when he turned up at an American citizenship interview in Vermont in mid-April.

A Columbia University student and Palestinian activist arrested by US immigration authorities has been released from custody, US media reports.

Vermont District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi from prison on bail on Wednesday, pending the court’s ruling on the habeas petition challenging his detention, according to a statement by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is part of his legal representation.

The judge denied a request from government lawyers to delay his release by seven days.

In the statement, Ms Droubi said the claims against him are “baseless” and a “disgrace to the US Constitution”. She said she was “relieved” that Mr Mahdawi had been released, and vowed to “keep fighting until Mohsen is free for good”.

Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, responded after his release, saying “no judge, not this one or another, is going to stop the Trump Administration from restoring the rule of law to our immigration system”.

Mr Mahdawi thanked supporters outside the courtroom, saying, “We are pro-peace and anti-war”.

“To my people in Palestine: I feel your pain, I see your suffering; and I see freedom and it is very very soon.”

One day before his arrest, Mr Mahdawi had told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that he believed the citizenship interview could be a setup.

“It’s the first feeling of like, I’ve been waiting for this for more than a year,” Mr Mahdawi said. “And the other feeling is like, wait a minute. Is this a honey trap?”

Several prominent politicians, including independent Senator Bernie Sanders who represents Vermont, have spoken out in support of Mr Mahdawi and called for his release.

US authorities have detained multiple students and graduates involved in the protest movement against the war, including Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University’s Rumeysa Ozturk.

Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student who was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide pro-Palestinian campus protests, was released Friday from a federal detention center.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, has been in custody since March facing potential deportation.

“This shouldn’t have taken three months,” Khalil, wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, told US media outside an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana hours after a federal judge ordered his release.

“(President Donald) Trump and his administration, they chose the wrong person for this,” he said. “There’s no right person who should be detained for actually protesting a genocide.”

The Department of Homeland Security criticized District Judge Michael Farbiarz’s ruling Friday as an example of how “out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining our national security.”

Under the terms of his release, Khalil will not be allowed to leave the United States except for “self-deportation,” and faces restrictions on where he can travel within the country.

Khalil’s wife, Michigan-born dentist Noor Abdalla, said her family could now “finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Maumoud is on his way home.”

“We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians,” added Abdalla, who gave birth to the couple’s first child while her husband was in detention.

– Visas revoked –

Since his March 8 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Khalil has become a symbol of Trump’s campaign to stifle pro-Palestinian student activism against the Gaza war, in the name of curbing anti-Semitism.

At the time a graduate student at Columbia University in New York, Khalil was a prominent leader of nationwide campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

Following his arrest, US authorities transferred Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) from his home in New York to the detention center in Louisiana, pending deportation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked a law approved during the 1950s Red Scare that allows the United States to remove foreigners seen as adverse to US foreign policy.

Rubio argues that US constitutional protections of free speech do not apply to foreigners and that he alone can make decisions without judicial review.

Hundreds of students have seen their visas revoked, with some saying they were targeted for everything from writing opinion articles to minor arrest records.

Farbiarz ruled last week that the government could not detain or deport Khalil based on Rubio’s assertions that his presence on US soil poses a national security threat.

The government has also alleged as grounds to detain and deport Khalil that there were inaccuracies in his application for permanent residency.

Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which is among the groups representing Khalil, welcomed the release order.

“This is an important step in vindicating Mr Khalil’s rights as he continues to be unlawfully targeted by the federal government for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights,” Sinha said.

bur-cl/bjt/acb

Summary Khalil’s arrest linked to pro-Palestinian activism, Trump policy

Judge: punishment in civil immigration matter unconstitutional

Judge finds no evidence Khalil is a flight risk or public danger

Khalil’s family in New York seeks transfer closer to them

JENA, Louisiana, June 20 (Reuters) – Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil walked out of a Louisiana immigrant detention center on Friday, hours after a judge ordered his release, a major victory for rights groups that challenged what they called the Trump administration’s unlawful targeting of a pro-Palestinian activist.

“Although justice prevailed,” he said upon his release in the rural town of Jena, “it’s long, very long overdue. And this shouldn’t have taken three months.”

Sign up here.

On March 8 Khalil, a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, was arrested by immigration agents in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan. President Donald Trump, a Republican, has called the protests antisemitic and vowed to deport foreign students who took part. Khalil became the first target of this policy.

After hearing oral arguments from lawyers for Khalil and for the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, New Jersey, ordered DHS to release him from custody at a jail for immigrants in rural Louisiana by 6:30 p.m. (2330 GMT) on Friday.

Farbiarz said the government had made no attempt to rebut evidence provided by Khalil’s lawyers that he was not a flight risk nor a danger to the public.

“There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner,” Farbiarz said, referring to Khalil as he ruled from the bench, adding that punishing someone over a civil immigration matter was unconstitutional.

Khalil is the latest in a string of foreign pro-Palestinian students arrested in the U.S. starting in March who have subsequently been released by judges. They include Mohsen Mahdawi and Rumeysya Ozturk.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., says he is being punished for his political speech, in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. Khalil condemned antisemitism and racism in interviews with CNN and other news outlets last year.

The Syrian-born activist plans to return to New York to be with his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, and their infant son, who was born during Khalil’s 104 days in detention.

“This ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others,” Abdalla said in a statement. “Today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family and the community that has supported us since the day he was unjustly taken for speaking out for Palestinian freedom.”

The White House condemned the decision to release Khalil, saying he should be deported for “conduct detrimental to American foreign policy interests” and fraudulently obtaining a student visa.

“There is no basis for a local federal judge in New Jersey —who lacks jurisdiction — to order Khalil’s release from a detention facility in Louisiana,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “We expect to be vindicated on appeal.”

Item 1 of 10 Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil speaks to media after being released from immigration custody in Jena, Louisiana, U.S. June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Kathleen Flynn [1/10] Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil speaks to media after being released from immigration custody in Jena, Louisiana, U.S. June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Kathleen Flynn Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

The immigration proceedings against Khalil continue.

Khalil, wearing a keffiyeh and raising his right fist as he approached journalists outside the detention center, condemned what he called the Trump administration’s racist immigration policies. He said he was leaving behind hundreds of men housed at the detention center who should not be there.

“The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here,” he said outside the gates of the facility. “No one is illegal, no human is illegal.”

Khalil said that his time in detention had changed him.

“Once you enter there, you see a different reality,” he said. “A different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice.”

The Louisiana immigration judge in his case had denied his asylum request on Friday, ruling he could be deported based on the government’s allegations of immigration fraud, and denied a bail hearing. Farbiarz’s decision rendered the bail request moot.

Like others facing deportation, Khalil has avenues to appeal within the immigration system. Farbiarz is also considering Khalil’s challenge of his deportation on constitutional grounds, and has blocked officials from deporting Khalil while that challenge plays out.

Earlier this month, Farbiarz ruled the government was violating Khalil’s free speech rights by detaining him under a little-used law granting the U.S. secretary of state power to seek deportation of non-citizens whose presence in the country was deemed adverse to U.S. foreign policy interests.

On June 13, the judge declined to order Khalil’s release from a detention center in Jena, Louisiana, after Trump’s administration said Khalil was being held on a separate charge that he withheld information from his application for lawful permanent residency.

Khalil’s lawyers deny that allegation and say people are rarely detained on such charges. On June 16, they urged Farbiarz to grant a separate request from their client to be released on bail or be transferred to immigration detention in New Jersey to be closer to his family in New York.

At Friday’s hearing, Farbiarz said it was “highly unusual” for the government to jail an immigrant accused of omissions in his application for U.S. permanent residency.

Khalil, 30, became a U.S. permanent resident last year, and his wife and newborn son are U.S. citizens.

Trump administration lawyers wrote in a June 17 filing that Khalil’s request for release should be addressed to the judge overseeing his immigration case, an administrative process over whether he can be deported, rather than to Farbiarz, who is considering whether Khalil’s March 8 arrest and subsequent detention were constitutional.

Reporting by Jonathan Allen and Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Kathleen Flynn in Jena, and Andrew Hay and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Nick Zieminski, David Gregorio and William Mallard

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab

Share X

Facebook

Linkedin

Email

Link Purchase Licensing Rights