Judge sets expedited schedule for pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil after ICE arrest
Khalil led demonstrations against Israel's war in Gaza which rocked Columbia's campus last year.
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A government lawyer asked a federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday to move the legal fight over the detention of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil to New Jersey or Louisiana, where he's being held as the Trump administration seeks to deport him over his participation in pro-Palestinian protests at the school.
Immigration enforcement agents arrested Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident who is married to an American citizen, in New York on Saturday. He was later moved to an immigration detention center in Louisiana.
Khalil's wife sat in the front row as lawyers petitioning for his release complained "access to our client is severely limited."
"We have literally not been able to confer with our client once since he was taken off the streets," Khalil's attorney Ramzi Kassem said.
With activists like actress Susan Sarandon looking on in court and protesters chanting outside Judge Jesse Furman ordered a phone call be arranged Wednesday night.
His attorneys pointed out Khalil is a lawful permanent resident with no criminal record but they declined the judge's invitation to immediately argue the merits of the case. Instead Khalil's attorneys said they would file an amended petition by Thursday evening.
The government said it would argue Khalil's petition should be heard either in New Jersey, where he was taken after his arrest Saturday night, or in Louisiana, where he is being held.
"This case is not going to set the precedent that the government wants it to set, whether it's in federal court or immigration court," Kassem said. "And you already know just by looking behind you, that it's not having the effect the government wants it to have on people's solidarity with Palestinians."
The judge set an expedited briefing schedule, saying "there is some need for speed here."
Attorneys and supporters of Khalil spoke after the court hearing, where a new statement was read on behalf of his wife, who wishes to not be named, on the "deep injustice."
"My husband was kidnapped from our home and it's shameful that the United States government continues to hold him because he stood for the rights and lives for his people," said spokesperson Shezzaabboushi Dallal.
Khalil led demonstrations against Israel's war in Gaza which rocked Columbia's campus last year.
Trump's border czar Tom Homan called Khalil a national security threat during an appearance in Albany on Wednesday.
"Can you stand a movie theater and yell fire? Can you slander? Free speech has limitations, but when you go to college campus, say protesting and locking down and taking over buildings and damaging property and handing out leaflets for Hamas, who is a terrorist organization," Homan said. "Coming to this country either on a visa or becoming a resident alien is a great privilege, but there are rules associated with that. You might have been able to get away with that stuff in the last administration, but not this administration."
Khalil's attorneys painted a different picture and argued it is a matter of repression, not national security.
"The United States government has taken the position that it can arrest, detain and seek to deport a lawful, permanent resident exclusively because of his peaceful, constitutionally protected activism," attorney Baher Azmy said.
And in response to Homan, the New York Immigration Coalition says Homan is not welcome in New York City and called his trip to Albany "an insult to the values of our state and a direct attack" on the immigrant community.
Khalil's detention over the weekend has prompted protests across the city, resulting in hundreds of arrests.
The case has raised alarms about free speech protections, while President Donald Trump continues to crack down on protests at colleges.
The White House said Columbia University is "refusing to help" the Department of Homeland Security in identifying individuals on campus who have "engaged in pro-Hamas activity."
Last week, the Trump Administration announced it was cutting $400 million in grants and contracts for Columbia University because of what it says were failures to fight anti-Semitism on campus.
(The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.)
RELATED | Judge blocks deportation of Columbia activist detained by ICE
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