But Columbia University graduate can be held for inaccurately filling out green card application, says judge<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration<\/a> can no longer detain Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil on the basis of federal claims that he is a threat to US foreign policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his order on Wednesday, Judge Michael E Farbiarz said that the ruling will go into effect at 9.30am on Friday, adding: \u201cThis is to allow the respondents to seek appellate review should they wish to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Khalil, who has not been charged with a crime, had been deemed a threat to US foreign policy by secretary of state, Marco Rubio, prompting federal authorities to detain him in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his ruling<\/a>, Farbiarz wrote: \u201cThe petitioner\u2019s career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled \u2013 and this adds up to irreparable harm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite his latest order, Farbiarz did note that Khalil can still remain in custody on the basis of federal officials\u2019 claims that Khalil inaccurately filled out his green card application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo be sure, it might be argued that the petitioner would be detained anyway. After all, as noted above, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to remove the petitioner based not only on the Secretary of State\u2019s determination \u2013 but also on a second basis, the Petitioner\u2019s alleged failure to accurately complete his lawful-permanent-resident application,\u201d Farbiarz wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that his findings \u201chave no impact on efforts to remove the petitioner for reasons other than the Secretary of State\u2019s determination\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Khalil has been held in a detention facility in Louisiana since March as his case moved through the courts. In April<\/a>, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled the Trump administration could move ahead with Khalil\u2019s deportation, although Farbiarz, in a separate case on the legality of the detention, ordered the government not to remove him. Late last month, Farbiarz wrote that the government\u2019s effort was likely unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His arrest was the first in the wave of arrests of students as part of the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism in US universities. In the weeks after Khalil\u2019s arrest, the government arrested an international Tufts student<\/a> who had co-authored a campus newspaper op-ed about Gaza in the street and a Columbia student attending a naturalization interview<\/a> and sought to deport a Columbia student<\/a> who had lived in the US since she was seven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Khalil was taken into custody on 8 March by immigration agents who refused to provide a warrant, he had previously said. He described his time in custody in Louisiana as \u201clong days bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While being detained he missed the birth of his first child, whom he briefly met last month and was able to hold despite the government attempting to block a \u201ccontact visit\u201d. Earlier this month, he described the pain of missing the birth of the baby, who is named Deen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInstead of holding my wife\u2019s hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone,\u201d Khalil said. \u201cI listened to her pain, trying to comfort her while 70 other men slept around me. When I heard my son\u2019s first cries, I buried my face in my arms so no one would see me weep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n