Judicial setback for Mahmoud Khalil: his release is denied due to a change in the government's legal strategy

A federal judge rejected the release of Mahmoud Khalil. The decision came shortly after another federal judge, Michael Farbiarz, ordered the release of the pro-Palestinian activist who was arrested in early March. The change in his situation had to do with a turn in the judicial strategy of the Trump Administration.

From the White House they remarked that Khalil's detention is now based on "other grounds," such as being undocumented when he entered the United States.

"An alien like Khalil can be detained while deportation proceedings are pending regardless of the charge that justifies it," they pointed out from the Trump Administration.

What Judge Farbiarz ruled on Wednesday was that the federal government could no longer hold Khalil under the pretext that he was a "threat to U.S. foreign policy."

Khalil's detention took place last March 10, just days after it was reported that the State Department would begin canceling visas for foreign students who support terrorist groups, especially Hamas. The young man is part of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a group that supports the "armed resistance" of Hamas.

Indeed, the Palestinian-born student was one of the CUAD leaders who organized the camps on campus. "And we’ve been working all this summer on our plans, on what’s next to pressure Columbia to listen to the students and to decide to be on the right side of history. We’re considering a wide range of actions throughout the semester, encampments and protests and all of that. But for us, encampment is now our new base," Khalil noted in August 2024. 

"This should serve as a warning to foreign students temporarily in the United States: under this administration, if you support terrorist groups, we will deport you," a State Department official stated at the time.