
Mahmoud Khalil: Palestinian activist granted released from ICE detention
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Mahmoud Khalil: Palestinian activist ordered to be released from ICE detention
Mahmoud Khalil is elated with the judge’s decision, one of his attorneys says. Khalil was arrested outside his Columbia University apartment in March. He is the only prominent pro-Palestinian demonstrator still in immigration custody in the US. A judge ruled last week that the government can no longer hold Khalil on the premise that his presence in the U.S. is against the national interest.. The Department of Justice says the decision does not prevent them from continuing to hold him on a second claim – that he failed to give required information in his application to become a legal permanent resident of the US., a spokesman says. The judge ruled that Khalil doesn’t need to be detained based on a. second allegation against him that he didn’ t accurately fill out an immigration. application, the judge said during Friday’S hearing. The federal government requested to temporarily halt Khalil”s release, which the judge denied Friday, saying his release is expected “hopefully very soon”
A federal judge has ordered that Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil be granted release on bail Friday from a Louisiana ICE detention center – more than three months after he was arrested outside his apartment on Columbia University’s campus.
Judge Michael Farbiarz found Khalil – the only prominent pro-Palestinian demonstrator still in immigration custody in the US – is not a flight risk or a danger to public safety, saying it’s “highly unusual” to be seeking his detention at this point.
The judge also cited several “extraordinary circumstances” in Khalil’s case that led him to order his release, including “that there is a due process violative effort to punish” the Columbia University graduate who played a central role in negotiations on behalf of pro-Palestinian student protesters last year.
Khalil “is not a flight risk, and the evidence that has been presented to me at least is that he is not a danger to the community, period, full stop,” Farbiarz said.
Khalil, a lawful permanent resident married to a US citizen, has been at the center of a long-running deportation fight since his arrest in March. As his case has dragged on, several other student activists targeted for deportation by the Trump administration were released.
Khalil is elated with the judge’s decision, one of his attorneys Baher Azmy told CNN Friday, noting his release is expected “hopefully very soon.”
Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, said in a statement that she can “breathe a sigh of relief” knowing that Khalil will be reunited with his family after missing the birth of his first child during months of detention at a facility over 1,000 miles away.
Judge Farbiarz previously ruled the government can’t hold Khalil on the premise that his presence in the country is against the national interest, and on Friday found that Khalil doesn’t need to be detained based on a second allegation against him that he failed to give required information in his application to become a legal permanent resident of the US.
“It’s overwhelmingly unlikely, I found, that a lawful permanent resident would be detained on the remaining available charge” of failing to accurately fill out an immigration application, the judge said during Friday’s hearing.
At the hearing, Khalil’s attorneys argued that the court should allow him to be released on bail or transferred to a detention center closer to his wife and newborn son. Fabriarz granted Khalil’s release on bail.
The federal government requested to temporarily halt Khalil’s release, which the judge denied Friday.
“The court concluded there’s no reason he should continue to be detained given the serious harms that are happening, the chill that is happening to his speech and other people’s speech as a result of his detention,” Azmy told CNN.
As the case played out in immigration and federal courts, the administration has argued that Khalil should be deported because his presence in the United States threatens the administration’s foreign policy goal of combatting antisemitism. His lawyers contended that he was targeted for his pro-Palestinian views in violation of his constitutional rights.
“There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner. And of course, that would be unconstitutional,” Farbiarz said Friday.
‘Delay tactics’
The ruling comes exactly one week after Farbiarz ruled Khalil can remain in detention.
After the judge said the government could no longer hold Khalil on the premise that his presence in the country is against the national interest, attorneys for the Department of Justice said the judge’s decision did not prevent them from continuing to hold Khalil on a second claim – that he failed to give required information in his application to become a legal permanent resident of the US.
The judge ruled last week that the administration’s interpretation of his order is correct, keeping Khalil in detention.
Khalil’s attorneys at the time accused the administration of using “cruel, transparent delay tactics” to keep Khalil in custody.
Azmy on Friday said the charges still pending that Khalil made misrepresentations on his green card application are “baseless” and will be litigated.
When asked if Khalil will continue to protest when released, Azmy said: “He’s a peace activist, he’s an international human rights activist, and he’s Palestinian, and I don’t expect he will ever stop advocating for justice for Palestinian people and an end to their continued slaughter and starvation.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
US judge orders release of pro-Palestinian activist Khalil
A U.S. judge ordered on Friday that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil be immediately released from immigration custody. 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. President Donald Trump has called the protests antisemitic and vowed to deport foreign students who took part. Khalil became the first target of this policy and was arrested by immigration agents in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan on March 8. 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. The federal judge ordered Khalil to be freed, as does his case before the federal judge challenging the immigration case on constitutional grounds. The judge found no evidence Khalil is a flight risk or public danger, and punishing someone over a civil immigration matter is unconstitutional. He ruled that the government was violating Khalil’s free speech rights by detaining him under a law granting the state power to seek deportation.
Item 1 of 4 Dr. Noor Abdalla, wife of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who remains in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana after being detained in early March for his involvement in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, holds up a “Release Mahmoud Khalil Now” protest sticker while posing for a portrait in New York City, U.S., May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Angelina Katsanis/File Photo
Summary Judge orders release of Mahmoud Khalil from immigration custody
Khalil’s arrest linked to pro-Palestinian activism, Trump policy
Judge Farbiarz cites unconstitutional punishment over civil immigration matter
Farbiarz finds no evidence Khalil is a flight risk or public danger
Khalil’s family resides in New York; seeks transfer closer to them
NEW YORK, June 20 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge ordered on Friday that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil be immediately released from immigration custody, a major victory for rights groups that challenged what they called the Trump administration’s unlawful targeting of a pro-Palestinian activist.
Khalil, a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, was arrested by immigration agents in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan on March 8. President Donald Trump , a Republican, has called the protests antisemitic and vowed to deport foreign students who took part, and Khalil became the first target of this policy.
Sign up here.
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.
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 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 (Khalil),” Farbiarz said as he ruled from the bench, and punishing someone over a civil immigration matter is unconstitutional, he said.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States, 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, his lawyers said.
“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,” Dr. Abdalla said in a statement.
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, and look forward to removing Khalil from the United States.”
While the federal judge ordered Khalil be freed, the immigration proceedings against him continue, as does his case before the federal judge challenging the immigration case on constitutional grounds.
Earlier this month, Farbiarz had ruled that 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.
But the judge declined on June 13 to order Khalil’s release from a detention center in Jena, Louisiana, after President Donald 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; Editing by Nick Zieminski
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab
Share X
Link Purchase Licensing Rights
Judge orders release of Mahmoud Khalil, pro-Palestinian activist at the center of long-running deportation fight
Mahmoud Khalil is elated with the judge’s decision, one of his attorneys says. Khalil was arrested outside his Columbia University apartment in March. He is the only prominent pro-Palestinian demonstrator still in immigration custody in the US. A federal judge found Khalil not a flight risk or a danger to public safety, saying it’s “highly unusual” to be seeking his detention at this point. The judge also cited several “extraordinary circumstances” in Khalil’s case that led him to order his release, including “that there is a due process violative effort to punish” the Columbia University graduate who played a central role in negotiations on behalf of pro- Palestinian student protesters last year. He has been at the center of a long-running deportation fight since his arrest in March, more than three months after he was charged with a crime.. The federal government requested to temporarily halt Khalil’S release, which the judge denied Friday. The ruling comes exactly one week after Farbiarz ruled Khalil can remain in detention.
(CNN) — A federal judge has ordered that Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil be granted release on bail Friday from a Louisiana ICE detention center – more than three months after he was arrested outside his apartment on Columbia University’s campus.
Judge Michael Farbiarz found Khalil – the only prominent pro-Palestinian demonstrator still in immigration custody in the US – is not a flight risk or a danger to public safety, saying it’s “highly unusual” to be seeking his detention at this point.
The judge also cited several “extraordinary circumstances” in Khalil’s case that led him to order his release, including “that there is a due process violative effort to punish” the Columbia University graduate who played a central role in negotiations on behalf of pro-Palestinian student protesters last year.
Khalil “is not a flight risk, and the evidence that has been presented to me at least is that he is not a danger to the community, period, full stop,” Farbiarz said.
Khalil, a lawful permanent resident married to a US citizen, has been at the center of a long-running deportation fight since his arrest in March. As his case has dragged on, several other student activists targeted for deportation by the Trump administration were released.
Khalil is elated with the judge’s decision, one of his attorneys Baher Azmy told CNN Friday, noting his release is expected “hopefully very soon.”
Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, said in a statement that she can “breathe a sigh of relief” knowing that Khalil will be reunited with his family after missing the birth of his first child during months of detention at a facility over 1,000 miles away.
Judge Farbiarz previously ruled the government can’t hold Khalil on the premise that his presence in the country is against the national interest, and on Friday found that Khalil doesn’t need to be detained based on a second allegation against him that he failed to give required information in his application to become a legal permanent resident of the US.
“It’s overwhelmingly unlikely, I found, that a lawful permanent resident would be detained on the remaining available charge” of failing to accurately fill out an immigration application, the judge said during Friday’s hearing.
At the hearing, Khalil’s attorneys argued that the court should allow him to be released on bail or transferred to a detention center closer to his wife and newborn son. Fabriarz granted Khalil’s release on bail.
The federal government requested to temporarily halt Khalil’s release, which the judge denied Friday.
“The court concluded there’s no reason he should continue to be detained given the serious harms that are happening, the chill that is happening to his speech and other people’s speech as a result of his detention,” Azmy told CNN.
As the case played out in immigration and federal courts, the administration has argued that Khalil should be deported because his presence in the United States threatens the administration’s foreign policy goal of combatting antisemitism. His lawyers contended that he was targeted for his pro-Palestinian views in violation of his constitutional rights.
“There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner. And of course, that would be unconstitutional,” Farbiarz said Friday.
‘Delay tactics’
The ruling comes exactly one week after Farbiarz ruled Khalil can remain in detention.
After the judge said the government could no longer hold Khalil on the premise that his presence in the country is against the national interest, attorneys for the Department of Justice said the judge’s decision did not prevent them from continuing to hold Khalil on a second claim – that he failed to give required information in his application to become a legal permanent resident of the US.
The judge ruled last week that the administration’s interpretation of his order is correct, keeping Khalil in detention.
Khalil’s attorneys at the time accused the administration of using “cruel, transparent delay tactics” to keep Khalil in custody.
Azmy on Friday said the charges still pending that Khalil made misrepresentations on his green card application are “baseless” and will be litigated.
When asked if Khalil will continue to protest when released, Azmy said: “He’s a peace activist, he’s an international human rights activist, and he’s Palestinian, and I don’t expect he will ever stop advocating for justice for Palestinian people and an end to their continued slaughter and starvation.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Gloria Pazmino contributed to this report.
Judge orders immediate release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil
A US federal judge has ordered the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from immigration custody. Khalil will be able to hold his newborn son for the very first time. The decision is a landmark victory for rights organisations that said Khalil’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech was not just trampled upon, but he was “punished” The government will continue to try to deport Khalil as the case continues. The government said that Khalil had omitted information on his green card application. The court gave the government until Friday morning to appeal, and did not grant Khalil’s release. The judge said that the government virtually never detains anyone on “misrepresentation” charges, he said he would uphold their appeal. His lawyers believe the Trump administration finds immigration judges in the south to be more favourable to the US government.
The Trump administration’s deportation case against the Palestinian activist and US green card holder is not over yet, but now that he will be out on bail, Khalil will be able to hold his newborn son for the very first time.
The decision is a landmark victory for rights organisations that said Khalil’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech was not just trampled upon, but he was “punished”.
Judge Michael Farbiarz said on Friday that the Trump administration was unable to make its case that Khalil would be a danger to the public or a flight risk if released from an immigration detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he was secretly transferred after his arrest.
Farbiarz, a New Jersey district court judge who is overseeing Khalil’s case, last week ruled it was unconstitutional to detain and deport Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, for supporting Palestinian human rights, and that he should be released from detention.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
The court gave the government until Friday morning to appeal.
The government then told the court on Friday that it would continue to detain Khalil in Louisiana, saying that Khalil had omitted information on his green card application.
“There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner (Khalil),” Farbiarz said, adding that punishing someone over a civil immigration matter is unconstitutional.
While Farbiarz acknowledged that the government virtually never detains anyone on “misrepresentation” charges, he said he would uphold their appeal, and did not grant Khalil’s release.
The government will continue to try to deport Khalil as the case continues.
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
When the student protests began at Columbia University following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, Khalil functioned as an intermediary between students and university administrators over the student movement’s demands for university divestment from weapons companies profiting from Israel’s war on Gaza.
Khalil did not participate in the encampments himself, opting instead to negotiate with administrators and offer guidance to the students.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Khalil on 8 March. His wife, Nour Abdalla, was eight months pregnant.
He became the first of a string of international student arrests outside their homes, often by plainclothes masked agents who would not tell them why they were being taken away, or to what location.
The one thing they all had in common, despite not knowing one another, is that they opposed the war in Gaza in a public forum or had significant ties to someone who did.
Khalil has been held at an ICE prison facility in Jena, Louisiana, since early March. His lawyers believe the Trump administration finds immigration judges in the south to be more favourable to the US government.
In April, one of those judges said that Khalil could be deported even though he was a permanent US resident through his wife, an American citizen.
According to the Associated Press, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had insisted that Khalil’s “presence or activities would compromise a compelling US foreign policy interest”.
Marc Van der Hout, one of Khalil’s lawyers, said in a statement issued after that ruling that Khalil had been “subject to a charade of due process”, adding his deportation order was “a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponisation of immigration law to suppress dissent”.
Van der Hout then turned to Farbiarz to put a stop to that order.
The immigration court’s refusal to allow Khalil to attend the birth of his son was a double blow to his family.
Judge Orders Release of Columbia University ‘Activist’ Mahmoud Khalil
A federal judge on Friday stated that he will order activist Mahmoud Khalil to be released from immigration detention. Judge Michael Farbiarz issued the ruling after Khalil’s attorneys asked the judge to either release him on bail from the Louisiana jail in which he is incarcerated or transfer him to a New Jersey facility so he can be closer to his wife and son. The same judge had ruled earlier that the government can continue to detain the legal U.S. resident based on allegations that he lied on his green card application. Khalil disputes the accusations that he wasn’t forthcoming on the application. The Trump administration alleges that he supported the terrorist group Hamas and engaged in antisemitic activities that undermined US foreign policy.
Judge Michael Farbiarz issued the ruling after Khalil’s attorneys asked the judge to either release him on bail from the Louisiana jail in which he is incarcerated or transfer him to a New Jersey facility so he can be closer to his wife and son.
Advertisement
From The Associated Press:
Khalil was the first arrest under President Donald Trump’s crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel’s devastating war in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Khalil must be expelled from the country because his continued presence could harm American foreign policy. The same judge had ruled earlier that the government can continue to detain the legal U.S. resident based on allegations that he lied on his green card application. Khalil disputes the accusations that he wasn’t forthcoming on the application. The judge previously determined that Khalil couldn’t continue being held based on the U.S. secretary of state’s determination that he could harm American foreign policy.
‼️🇺🇸 BREAKING: A federal judge has just ordered Mahmoud Khalil to be ‘released’ from detention. 👀
Khalil is a Palestinian national & activist involved with disrupting college campuses.
Khalil has been held by ICE for months because a judge blocked his immediate deportation. pic.twitter.com/1ZMVyzpKAe — Diligent Denizen 🇺🇸 (@DiligentDenizen) June 20, 2025
Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian activist and student at Columbia University, became the first foreign student to be arrested for possible deportation for his participation in protests against the war in Gaza on campus. Despite being a lawful permanent resident with a green card, he was facing deportation proceedings. The Trump administration alleges that he supported the terrorist group Hamas and engaged in antisemitic activities that undermined US foreign policy.
Advertisement
Recommended
The administration is not accusing Khalil of breaking any laws during the protests. He was not among the violent demonstrators who were arrested amid the pro-Hamas demonstrations. Still, the White House’s position is that foreign students who engage in these protests should be removed from the country, a sentiment Secretary of State Marco Rubio has expressed on multiple occasions.
Since his arrest, Khalil and the government have been locked in a legal battle over his status. Judge Farbiarz, on May 28, ruled that the administration’s detention of Khalil was likely unconstitutional. On June 11, he ordered the administration to release the activist. However, he paused his order for two days so the administration could file an appeal. The White House informed the court that it would not release Khalil, accusing him of providing false information on his green card application.
Critics argue that the Trump administration relied on unverified reports and that its evidence lacked substance. They characterized the case as an effort to suppress criticism of US policy regarding the Israel/Palestinian conflict.
Judge orders release of Mahmoud Khalil, pro-Palestinian activist at the center of long-running deportation fight
Mahmoud Khalil is elated with the judge’s decision, one of his attorneys says. Khalil was arrested outside his Columbia University apartment in March. He is the only prominent pro-Palestinian demonstrator still in immigration custody in the US. A federal judge found Khalil not a flight risk or a danger to public safety, saying it’s “highly unusual” to be seeking his detention at this point. The judge also cited several “extraordinary circumstances” in Khalil’s case that led him to order his release, including “that there is a due process violative effort to punish” the Columbia University graduate who played a central role in negotiations on behalf of pro- Palestinian student protesters last year. He has been at the center of a long-running deportation fight since his arrest in March, more than three months after he was charged with a crime.. The federal government requested to temporarily halt Khalil’S release, which the judge denied Friday. The ruling comes exactly one week after Farbiarz ruled Khalil can remain in detention.
(CNN) — A federal judge has ordered that Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil be granted release on bail Friday from a Louisiana ICE detention center – more than three months after he was arrested outside his apartment on Columbia University’s campus.
Judge Michael Farbiarz found Khalil – the only prominent pro-Palestinian demonstrator still in immigration custody in the US – is not a flight risk or a danger to public safety, saying it’s “highly unusual” to be seeking his detention at this point.
The judge also cited several “extraordinary circumstances” in Khalil’s case that led him to order his release, including “that there is a due process violative effort to punish” the Columbia University graduate who played a central role in negotiations on behalf of pro-Palestinian student protesters last year.
Khalil “is not a flight risk, and the evidence that has been presented to me at least is that he is not a danger to the community, period, full stop,” Farbiarz said.
Khalil, a lawful permanent resident married to a US citizen, has been at the center of a long-running deportation fight since his arrest in March. As his case has dragged on, several other student activists targeted for deportation by the Trump administration were released.
Khalil is elated with the judge’s decision, one of his attorneys Baher Azmy told CNN Friday, noting his release is expected “hopefully very soon.”
Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, said in a statement that she can “breathe a sigh of relief” knowing that Khalil will be reunited with his family after missing the birth of his first child during months of detention at a facility over 1,000 miles away.
Judge Farbiarz previously ruled the government can’t hold Khalil on the premise that his presence in the country is against the national interest, and on Friday found that Khalil doesn’t need to be detained based on a second allegation against him that he failed to give required information in his application to become a legal permanent resident of the US.
“It’s overwhelmingly unlikely, I found, that a lawful permanent resident would be detained on the remaining available charge” of failing to accurately fill out an immigration application, the judge said during Friday’s hearing.
At the hearing, Khalil’s attorneys argued that the court should allow him to be released on bail or transferred to a detention center closer to his wife and newborn son. Fabriarz granted Khalil’s release on bail.
The federal government requested to temporarily halt Khalil’s release, which the judge denied Friday.
“The court concluded there’s no reason he should continue to be detained given the serious harms that are happening, the chill that is happening to his speech and other people’s speech as a result of his detention,” Azmy told CNN.
As the case played out in immigration and federal courts, the administration has argued that Khalil should be deported because his presence in the United States threatens the administration’s foreign policy goal of combatting antisemitism. His lawyers contended that he was targeted for his pro-Palestinian views in violation of his constitutional rights.
“There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner. And of course, that would be unconstitutional,” Farbiarz said Friday.
‘Delay tactics’
The ruling comes exactly one week after Farbiarz ruled Khalil can remain in detention.
After the judge said the government could no longer hold Khalil on the premise that his presence in the country is against the national interest, attorneys for the Department of Justice said the judge’s decision did not prevent them from continuing to hold Khalil on a second claim – that he failed to give required information in his application to become a legal permanent resident of the US.
The judge ruled last week that the administration’s interpretation of his order is correct, keeping Khalil in detention.
Khalil’s attorneys at the time accused the administration of using “cruel, transparent delay tactics” to keep Khalil in custody.
Azmy on Friday said the charges still pending that Khalil made misrepresentations on his green card application are “baseless” and will be litigated.
When asked if Khalil will continue to protest when released, Azmy said: “He’s a peace activist, he’s an international human rights activist, and he’s Palestinian, and I don’t expect he will ever stop advocating for justice for Palestinian people and an end to their continued slaughter and starvation.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Gloria Pazmino contributed to this report.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/20/us/mahmoud-khalil-ordered-released-by-judge