US judge lifts pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil's travel restrictions

Court ruling is latest defeat in case pursued by Trump administration

A New Jersey judge ruled relaxed travel restrictions placed on Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

A judge has significantly loosened travel restrictions placed on Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and activist who was detained by US immigration authorities for taking part in campus pro-Palestine protests.

In a request filed by Mr Khalil's legal team, the activist asked New Jersey Judge Michael Hammer to lift restrictions that significantly limited his ability to travel throughout the US.

Those restrictions were originally part of a deal that helped to secure his release from an immigration detention centre.

Mahmoud Khalil had requested he be able to travel around the US, lifting restrictions that were part of his release from federal custody. Pacer

The letter to Mr Hammer said that Mr Khalil wanted to be able to "attend conferences and events nationwide to which he has been invited to speak, travel with family as needed or desired, and attend dental appointments".

His correspondence also indicated that he wished to attend an oral argument "before the US Court of Appeals" in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The activist was detained by immigration officials in early March. He said that while in a Louisiana detention centre, he was denied medication, forced to sleep under harsh, fluorescent lights and fed “nearly inedible” food, causing him to lose 7kg.

Mr Khalil's arrest was part of a Trump administration crackdown on so-called anti-Semitism on university campuses. The administration comnsiders pro-Palestine protests to fall under this description.

Despite challenges from government lawyers, Mr Hammer ruled that the activist be allowed to travel throughout the US as long as he provides Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials the dates and destinations of his travel more than 48 hours ahead of time.

Mr Hammer denied the US government's request that Mr Khalil be required to wear an electronic monitoring device.

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"There's been no suggestion in that period that he's been anything less than fully compliant with his conditions," Mr Hammer told Aniello DeSimone, a lawyer for the government.

Although exact details about how Mr Khalil will need to inform immigration authorities about his travel still need to be determined, the judge largely granted him what he sought in his letter.

"The bottom line here is that Mr Khalil is a lawful permanent resident," one of his lawyers, Alina Das, told the judge.

"Lawful permanent residents like Mr Khalil are free to travel within the US, even when they are in removal proceedings."

While the Trump administration is still trying to deport Mr Khalil, the activist has sued the administration for $20 million in damages.

His lawyers allege Mr Khalil, a legal US resident, was falsely imprisoned and maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an anti-Semite as the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in the protests.

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