US court rejects Trump bid to dismiss Mahmoud Khalil deportation challenge
Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University and a legal permanent resident, has been detained by the government since March 8 as part of a deportation attempt after last year’s participation in campus protests for Gaza.
A habeas corpus petition, which is a legal request for judicial review of Khalil’s detention, was approved by Judge Jesse Furman on Wednesday. The challenge had been requested by the Trump administration.
Furman argued that Khalil’s deportation violates the US Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and due process.
The fundamental constitutional principle that all citizens of the United States are entitled to fair treatment of law demands no less, Fruman wrote in his decision, “These are serious allegations and arguments that, without a doubt, warrant careful review by a court of law.”
He referred to Khalil’s ordeal as an “exceptional case.”
The judge, however, decided that Khalil was held in New Jersey when the case was brought up, and that his New York-based court should not hear the case.
The government made a move to Louisiana, a state with a Republican majority, where Khalil is currently being held in an immigration enforcement facility.
Furman argued that the government’s previous order, which forbids the government from deporting Khalil, must continue while the case is being investigated. The activist’s release on bail request is still up to the New Jersey court, which will then handle the case.
There is no known timetable for when the New Jersey Court will rule on the case or schedule hearings, but he ordered the court clerk to move the petition “immediately.”
Under a rarely used provision of an immigration law that grants the secretary of state the authority to deport anyone who is found to have “adverse foreign policy consequences,” the Trump administration is pressing for Khalil’s deportation.
Khalil has not been charged with a crime by the US government. Instead, US officials accused him of engaging in “activities associated with Hamas.”
Khalil’s supporters claim that as part of the wave of campus demonstrations that erupted across the nation last year, he peacefully protested Columbia University’s ties to the Israeli military.
Trump’s willingness to stifle free speech in his crackdown on Palestinian rights advocacy in the US has raised questions about Khalil’s detention.
Immigration enforcement officers detained the activist’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, and later moved him to two different facilities without letting his family or attorneys know.
His treatment is compared to forced disappearances by authoritarian governments, according to critics.
Last week, acting senior policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Hannah Flamm, said to Al Jazeera that the Trump administration is “trying to send a message with the unlawful and deplorable disappearance of Mr. Khalil.”
The US government has used immigration enforcement to sever families and terrorize communities before on this occasion. However, Mr. Khalil’s arrest is a significant departure from and a serious violation of the country’s free speech laws.
Late on Tuesday, Khalil declared himself a political prisoner in a statement released from his cell.
Source: Aljazeera
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