Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student the Trump administration is trying to expel from the U.S. because of his role in campus protests against Israel, are expected to appear Friday before a judge in New Jersey as they fight for his release from federal custody.
Khalil, 30, was arrested March 8 at his university-owned apartment building in New York, then flown south to Louisiana, where he remains locked in an immigration detention center.
The Trump administration has cited a seldom-invoked statute authorizing the secretary of state to deport noncitizens whose presence in the country threatens U.S. foreign-policy interests. Khalil was born in Syria but is a legal U.S. resident married to an American citizen.
The court fight in Newark is a continuation of one that began in New York City, but which was transferred across the Hudson River after a judge determined a federal court in New Jersey was the proper jurisdiction for the case. Among the first issues for the new judge is whether to keep the case or transfer it again. The Trump administration wants it moved to Louisiana.
Khalil served as a negotiator for pro-Palestinian Columbia students as they bargained with university officials over an end to their campus tent encampment last spring. The university ultimately called in the police to dismantle the encampment and a faction of protesters seized an administration building.
