Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested on Saturday

14/3/2025 6:10

Detained pro-Palestinian

activist Mahmoud Khalil asked a federal court on Thursday to

block Columbia University from sharing student disciplinary

records from campus protests with a Republican-led U.S. House of

Representatives committee.

Separately, Khalil's lawyers have asked a federal judge to

release him from immigration detention in Louisiana, arguing

that Republican President Donald Trump's administration targeted

him for arrest and deportation because of his advocacy in

violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protections

for freedom of speech. Khalil, who has lawful permanent resident

status in the United States, was arrested last Saturday in New

York City.



Khalil's case has become a flashpoint for Trump's pledge to

deport some activists who participated in the wave of protests

on U.S. college campuses against Israel's military assault on

Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the militant group

Hamas.



Trump's administration has said pro-Palestinian protests on

college campuses, including at Columbia, have included support

for Hamas and antisemitic harassment of Jewish students. The

administration last week said it canceled grants and contracts

worth about $400 million to Columbia because of what it

describes as antisemitic harassment on and near the school's

campus.



Student protest organizers have said criticism of Israel and

its actions is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism.



In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court,

Khalil and seven Columbia students sought to prevent the

university from complying with a request from the House

education and workforce committee for student disciplinary

records stemming from protest-related incidents. The other seven

students remained anonymous in the lawsuit.



The plaintiffs said the committee's request violated the

First Amendment and their privacy rights under the Family

Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a U.S. law that governs how

universities handle student information.



"Entities like the university feel pressure to cooperate

with the government in its efforts to chill and punish protected

speech," the lawsuit stated.



Columbia declined to comment. A spokesperson for the

committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Syrian native of Palestinian descent, Khalil, 30, entered the

United States on a student visa in 2022 to pursue a public

administration degree at Columbia. He became a prominent member

of Columbia's protest movement, married his American citizen

wife in 2023, and last year secured lawful permanent residency,

making him a "green card" holder.

Demonstrators on the streets of New York City, rights groups and

Democratic lawmakers have called Khalil's arrest political

repression by the Trump administration. At least 150 protesters

poured into the lobby of Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan on

Thursday, carrying signs saying: "FREE MAHMOUD FREE PALESTINE."







'FOREIGN POLICY CONSEQUENCES'



Khalil is separately challenging the legality of his arrest

by federal immigration agents outside his university residence

in Upper Manhattan.



Khalil has not been charged with a crime.



Trump's administration has urged a judge to dismiss Khalil's

challenge to his immigration arrest, or alternatively move the

case out of New York.

In a court filing shortly before midnight on Wednesday, Justice

Department lawyers told U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in

Manhattan that the U.S. government is seeking Khalil's removal

because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to

believe his activities or presence in the country could have

"serious adverse foreign policy consequences."



Under a provision of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality

Act, a law passed in 1952, any immigrants may be deported if the

secretary of state deems their presence in the country

potentially adverse to American foreign policy. Legal experts

have said that provision is rarely invoked, and Khalil's lawyers

have said it was not intended to silence dissent.

The Justice Department did not elaborate in its filing on how

Khalil could harm U.S. foreign policy objectives. Trump and

officials in his administration have, without presenting

evidence, accused Khalil of supporting Hamas.



The Justice Department lawyers also said Furman should not

have jurisdiction over the case because Khalil was transferred

to an immigration detention facility in New Jersey before his

lawyers filed their bid for his release, known as a habeas

corpus petition, early on Sunday morning. He was later moved to

Louisiana.



Khalil's lawyers are due to respond to the Justice

Department's motion on Friday, and also are expected to file an

updated habeas corpus petition by midnight on Thursday.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian

conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked

Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages,

according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's attacks have

killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health

officials, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes

that Israel denies. The assault internally displaced nearly

Gaza's entire population and caused a hunger crisis.