Judge denies Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil's request for release
The federal judge overseeing the case of Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil ruled Friday that he won't release Khalil from government custody.
U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz sided with the government's interpretation of his preliminary injunction and ruled that his order will not prevent the Trump administration from detaining Khalil on accusations that he misrepresented information on his green card application.
On Wednesday, Farbiarz issued a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from deporting or continuing to detain Khalil based on Secretary of State Marco Rubio's determination that his continued presence in the country would pose a risk to foreign policy.
The judge stayed his injunction until 9:30 a.m. Friday, giving the Trump administration about 40 hours to appeal the decision.
In a filing Friday, Justice Department attorneys said that Judge Farbiarz' preliminary injunction does not prohibit the government from detaining Kahlil on a second set of grounds -- the allegation that he lied on his green card application -- however rare his detention on those grounds may be.
Farbiarz, in his ruling Friday afternoon, ruled in the government's favor.
"While the Court made a factual finding that it was unlikely that Khalil would be detained on another basis ... the Court never held that it would be unlawful for Respondents to detain Khalil based on another charge of removability," DOJ lawyers argued in their filing.
Farbiarz said Friday he was denying Khalil's request for release, but said he may schedule a bail application with the immigration judge presiding over his case.
"Mahmoud Khalil was detained in retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights," one of his attorneys, Amy Greer, said in a statement following the ruling. "The government is now using cruel, transparent delay tactics to keep him away from his wife and newborn son ahead of their first Father's Day as a family. It is unjust, it is shocking, and it is disgraceful."
ABC News previously reported that DHS submitted several tabloids and conservative news articles in immigration court to make the case Khalil failed to disclose on his green card application that he was a "member" of the Columbia University Apartheid Divestment coalition, and that he misrepresented the amount of time he worked for the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut.
Khalil's lawyers submitted several declarations, including from U.K. embassy officials, corroborating information he submitted on his green card application. Additionally, his lawyers say that many of the articles the government is using as evidence of alleged wrongdoing and other deportable activities were published after his application was submitted. They have argued in immigration court that Khalil was a negotiator between CUAD, which is made up of dozens of on campus groups, and the university's administration -- and therefore couldn't be a "member."
Khalil, a green card holder who is married to an American citizen, has been held in a Louisiana detention facility since ICE agents arrested him in the lobby of his apartment building in New York City on March 8.
Immigration Judge Jamee Comans ruled in April that Khalil is deportable based on Rubio's assertion that his continued presence and actions in the country pose an "adverse foreign policy consequence."
But Judge Farbiarz subsequently issued an injunction against Khalil's removal on those grounds -- and also said in his ruling that lawful permanent residents, like Khalil, who are accused of making misrepresentations on their applications are "virtually never detained pending removal."
Trump administration officials have said Khalil was detained for his purported support of Hamas -- a claim his legal team has disputed.
In a memo filed in the case, Rubio wrote that Khalil should be deported because of his alleged role in "antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States."
