Mahmoud Khalil Released from ICE Detention

Khalil was detained more than three months ago as the first case in a wave of crackdowns against foreign students involved in campus protests.

The Trump administration had argued that Khalil could be deported under a rarely-used law that allows them to do so if they determined his presence in the country would have significant negative consequences for American foreign policy. Khalil has not been charged with a crime.

Farbiarz had previously held that the government could not continue to hold Khalil under the determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. However, the judge allowed his detention to continue under a claim by the administration that Khalil had omitted some prior work experience from his green card application.

Khalil’s release follows the releases of several students apparently detained for pro-Palestine speech, including fellow Columbia alum Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested at his citizenship interview, and Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk, who co-wrote an opinion in her campus newspaper calling for divestment from Israel.

Khalil’s arrest on March 8 was the first shot from the Trump administration in a dramatic salvo against international student visas.