![Colombia University graduate to be released after 104 days in detention after being arrested for being a Pro-Palestine demonstrator on Campus [Image by the New York Times]](https://www.thepostnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/00met-khalil-01-hzqp-articleLarge.jpg)
Colombia University graduate to be released after 104 days in detention after being arrested for being a Pro-Palestine demonstrator on Campus [Image by the New York Times]
Khalil had been held for 104 days after his March 8 arrest by ICE agents at his Manhattan college apartment. His confinement — in which he missed the birth of his son and his graduation — was national news and was generally regarded as a test case for the administration’s broader effort against student protesters.
At a two-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz of Newark directed that Khalil be released from a Louisiana immigration center on suspicion that his detention was unconstitutional retaliation for his political speech.
There is at least something to the complaint below that there is an attempt to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner,” Judge Farbiarz said. “And, of course, that would be unconstitutional.”.
The decision, if upheld, would be a major legal defeat for the Trump administration’s attempt to deport international students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, some of which were anti-Israel protests against Israel’s ongoing military campaigns in Gaza. It also reflects increasing judicial skepticism of government intent in targeting student activists.
Khalil, a permanent resident Syrian immigrant, made headlines in early 2024 during a wave of campus demonstrations against U.S. support for Israel’s Gaza war. President Donald Trump labeled the protests “antisemitic” and pledged to remove “radical foreign agitators” from American campuses.
Khalil was the first to be detained, being described by the White House as a “radical foreign pro-Hamas student.” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed him for “aligning with terrorists,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a little-used law to call for his expulsion, claiming that Khalil’s presence brought shame to U.S. foreign policy.
But Khalil’s defenders and lawyers have consistently argued that his arrest and detention were politically motivated. They asserted he was targeted for exercising the rights of the First Amendment and that charges that he promoted antisemitism were false. In a 2024 CNN interview, Khalil stated: “The freedom of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are connected… you can’t have one without the other.”
Initially accused of endangering national security, Khalil was later charged with fraud on his application for permanent residency — among them, not declaring work for a U.N. agency and the British government. The charges, according to his lawyers, were unfounded and based on misrepresentation of his human relief work and academic pursuits.
Judge Farbiarz, who heard the case since March, methodically dismantled a lot of the government case, ultimately concluding last week that the foreign policy statute employed to detain Khalil was inapplicable.
Last Friday, he noted the government had not presented any evidence that Khalil posed a risk to public safety or would abscond.
“He is not harmful to the community, period, full stop,” said Farbiarz.
Despite the judge’s order, it was unclear Friday night if Khalil would be released. Homeland Security spokesperson Tracia McLaughlin continued the directive had no basis in law, saying immigration release determinations fall into the sole discretion of immigration judges.
On the same day that an immigration judge rejected Khalil bond and ordered his removal, one renegade district judge released him,” McLaughlin said. “This is just another example of how out-of-control members of the judiciary are undermining national security.”.
White House press secretary Abigail Jackson reechoed the statement, describing the ruling as “a judicial overreach” and declaring that her administration would appeal. “We look forward to being vindicated… and to having Khalil deported from the United States,” she further added.
Notwithstanding that, the ruling was welcomed by human rights campaigners and Khalil’s family.
“Today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family,” Dr. Noor Abdalla, Khalil’s wife, said in a statement. “But this decision doesn’t even begin to make up for the injustices that the Trump administration has perpetrated against our family and hundreds like us.”
Khalil’s attorney, Alina Das, added that the decision reaffirmed what they had been claiming for some time: “They’ve been targeting Mr. Khalil from the start because of his speech and his viewpoint.”
Khalil is the fourth student protester — and Rumeysa Ozturk, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Badar Khan Suri — to be released following judges’ objections to the basis on which they were arrested.
His immigration case continues, and the government remains in position to appeal the verdict. But for now, Khalil is poised to reunite with New York, his newly added son, and the community that rallied behind him.
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