Judge Halts Deportation of Palestinian Activist Whose Arrest Was Celebrated by Trump

A federal judge has halted the deportation of a Columbia University graduate student who was detained by immigration authorities for his participation in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York issued the order Monday as the government sought to deport Mahmoud Khalil after arresting him outside his apartment over the weekend. The judge scheduled a hearing on the case for Wednesday.

Furman, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said the action was necessary to preserve the court’s jurisdiction before the government could move Khalil outside the state or remove him from the country in a case that his lawyers say violated the student’s First Amendment rights.

The legal development came after President Donald Trump praised the arrest as part of his administration’s efforts to punish activists and universities for acts of harassment and violence toward Jewish students during protests that roiled U.S. campuses after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel.

“This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Monday, linking Khalil’s detainment to his previously signed executive orders to combat antisemitism on college campuses.

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Khalil, who is married to a U.S. citizen and had legal permanent residency, was arrested Saturday night. An online locator for people held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed he had already been transferred to a detention center in Louisiana.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the arrest in a statement posted to X, saying Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” {snip}

The Trump administration’s legal argument for Khalil’s detainment and possible deportation is unclear. Federal immigration law allows green cards to be revoked for various criminal offenses, including those involving “moral turpitude” and for anyone who “engages in terrorism-related activity.”

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