Last Friday (June 20), U.S. District Judge Michael Fabiarz ordered that Mahmoud Khalil, a U.S. citizen and Columbia University graduate student, was to be released from a detention center in Louisiana. When released, Khalil met with reporters and was asked if he had a message for President Donald Trump. “Trump and his administration, they chose the wrong person for this. That doesn’t mean that there is a right person for this,” Khalil said, adding: “There’s no right person who should be detained for protesting a genocide, for protesting their university, Columbia University, that is investing in the genocide of the Palestinian people so this is my message.”
Khalil had been in the detention center for 104 days after his arrest in early March by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents outside of his apartment on the campus of Columbia in New York City. The arrest made him the focal point of the Trump administration’s agenda to crackdown on student protesters who were opposing Israel’s war in Gaza and supporting the Palestinian people. Khalil missed the birth of his first child while detained and was unable to see his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla. In a statement, she expressed her joy at his release, saying: “After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father.”
https://x.com/BTnewsroom/status/1936911185246339121
The activist was freed, regaining his green card afterward. Kahlil will be able to travel for court hearings in Louisiana and New Jersey where he was initially detained by ICE, as well as to visit family in Michigan. Despite his release, Khalil’s case is not suspended. Judge Fabiarz directed his release after deeming that Khalil would not be a flight risk and noting that he’s married to a U.S. citizen. He still faces deportation if the Trump administration wins the case against him.
The Department of Homeland Security has already declared that they would appeal the decision, blasting the judge in a statement to Newsweek: “This is yet another example of how out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security. Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts.”
Mahmoud Khalil Drags Trump Administration After Release
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