A green-card holder, Mahmoud Khalil was detained on March 8 by immigration agents and is being held in an immigration detention center.
An immigration judge on Tuesday gave the Trump administration just over 24 hours to present evidence as to why Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil should be deported.
From her Louisiana courtroom, Judge Jamee Comans said that if the evidence does not support deportation, then she will rule on Friday whether Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the US, can be deported or whether he must be released from immigration detention.
Update from the Mahmoud Khalil case; at his first immigration court hearing, the government didn’t even have any evidence ready and the judge is giving them until Friday to submit it. https://t.co/iLvFvIpdwI
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) April 8, 2025
Comans reportedly said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “either can provide sufficient evidence or not”, adding, “If he’s not removable, I’m going to terminate this case on Friday.”
Khalil’s Pregnant Wife
During the hour-long hearing, Khalil sat alone at a table while his legal team participated via video conference. The recent Columbia graduate spoke briefly at the beginning of the hearing, requesting the judge to allow his pregnant wife, who is in New York, to join the video call.
The judge agreed, and Noor Abdalla, who was expected to give birth soon, appeared on the screen.
“Your honor, I would appreciate it if you could let my wife in,” Khalil said.
Mahmoud Khalil could miss the birth of his baby.
His wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, was already in her 3rd trimester when police arrested the pro-Palestine activist in March.
“As we’re getting a lot closer to my due date,” Noor told AJ+’s @Dena, “I’m not going to lie, I am scared.” pic.twitter.com/H37RBq7gN6
— AJ+ (@ajplus) April 8, 2025
A lawyer for the DHS said the government was prepared to submit its evidence by the 5 pm deadline on Wednesday.
Khalil’s immigration lawyer, Mark Van Der Hout, said they had requested DHS’s evidence of the allegations more than two weeks ago with no response, The Guardian reported.
“We cannot plead until we know the specific allegations,” he stated.
Trump’s Executive Orders
Khalil, a green card holder who is married to a US citizen, was arrested by DHS agents at his university-owned residence in New York early last month.
He served as a lead negotiator during the Gaza Solidarity Encampment last April and is one of many students targeted by the government following the signing of executive orders by US President Donald Trump aimed at students “who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”
Khalil has described his arrest as “a direct consequence” of exercising his right to free speech in advocating for an end to “the genocide in Gaza.”
Trump has defended Khalil’s arrest, saying it was “the first arrest of many to come.”
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” said Trump, vowing to “find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again.”
Other Arrests
Last month, a Turkish national, Rumeysa Ozturk, was seized in broad daylight by masked immigration agents as she was walking down a street near her home in Massachusetts. She is a Tufts University student who holds an F-1 visa permitting her to pursue academic studies in the US.
A Georgetown University researcher, Badar Suri Khan, has also been detained by immigration agents.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, alleged on X that Suri Khan was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.”
The postdoctoral fellow’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmed, has argued in court papers that Suri, who has no criminal record and has not been charged with a crime, is being targeted because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife, who is a US citizen, “and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose U.S. foreign policy toward Israel,” Politico reported.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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