Detained Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil appears in immigration case

JENA, Louisiana -- Detained Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil appeared briefly Friday in immigration court at a remote Louisiana detention center as his lawyers fight in multiple venues to try to free him.

Khalil, 30, a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record, sat alone next to an empty chair - his lawyer participated via video conference - through a brief court session that dealt only with scheduling.

Khalil swayed back and forth in his chair as he waited for the proceeding to begin in a courtroom inside an isolated, low-slung Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention complex. Ringed by two rows of tall barbed-wire fences and surrounded by the pine forests of central Louisiana, the facility is near the small town of Jena, roughly 150 miles north of the state capital, Baton Rouge.

RELATED | Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil's case transferred to New Jersey after ICE arrest

Khalil smiled at two observers as they came into the room, where just 13 people ultimately gathered, including the judge, attorneys and court staff. Two journalists and a total of four other observers attended.



By video, lawyer Marc Van Der Hout said he'd just recently started representing Khalil and hadn't yet been able to speak to him or get records in the case. Van Der Hout said he needed more time to delve into the case. An immigration judge set a fuller hearing for April 8.

The Columbia University graduate student was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on what he calls antisemitic and "anti-American" campus protests. Khalil served as a spokesperson and negotiator last year for pro-Palestinian demonstrators who opposed Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

Khalil, who was born in Syria to a Palestinian family, has said in a statement that his detention reflects "anti-Palestinian racism" in the U.S.

RELATED | Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil describes night of his arrest in new court filing

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