Mahmoud Khalil: US will not release Columbia University protester despite successful appeal

Government successfully challenge interpretation of recent court ruling

The Trump administration on Friday said it has no plans to release Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil after he successfully appealed against a recent court ruling.

A federal judge this week had ruled that the White House could not use US foreign policy interests to justify its detention of Mr Khalil, whose supporters hoped would be released on Friday.

“The court did not order respondents to release petitioner Mahmoud Khalil,” US Department of Justice lawyers wrote in a last-minute appeal, implying they could detain Mr Khalil on other grounds.

Department of Justice lawyers challenged a recent court ruling which sought to release Mahmoud Khalil from custody. Image: Pacer

“An alien like Khalil may be detained during the pendency of removal proceedings regardless of the charge of removability,” they added, explaining that in their view, Mr Khalil had to convince the Department of Homeland Security to release him, and that he had failed to do so.

Noor Abdalla, wife of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who remains in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana. Reuters

The DOJ also asked that if federal District Judge Michael Farbiarz insisted on releasing the Columbia University student, they could pursue other legal options to keep him detained.

The judge acquiesced to the DOJ's arguments.

“The respondents have now represented that the petitioner is being detained on another, second charge,” he wrote, adding that Mr Khalil retains the option of requesting bail through an application to an immigration judge presiding over his case.

On Wednesday, Judge Farbiarz said Mr Khalil's legal team had shown that his continued detention was causing irreparable harm to his career, his family and his right to free speech.

Mr Khalil, who played a prominent role in pro-Palestine campus protests last year, is being detained in Louisiana after his March arrest.

The State Department revoked his green card under a little-used provision of immigration law granting the Secretary of State the power to seek the deportation of any non-citizen whose presence in the country is considered adverse to US foreign policy interests.

The White House has accused Mr Khalil of spreading Hamas propaganda during the protests.

A judge in Louisiana previously ruled that the US government could proceed with efforts to deport him. He was denied leave in late April to attend the birth of his first child.

His arrest was part of a Trump administration crackdown on so-called anti-Semitism on university campuses. The administration has deemed pro-Palestine protests to fall under this umbrella.

Mr Khalil has described himself as a political prisoner and said his arrest was indicative of anti-Palestinian racism in the US.