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Despite a judge’s ruling last week that the Trump administration can’t continue to detain pro-Palestine campus activist Mahmoud Khalil “based on the Secretary of State’s determination,” the Columbia University graduate will remain in custody for now.
In a Friday letter to Michael E. Farbiarz, U.S. District Court judge for the District of New Jersey, Justice Department attorneys wrote that the government would continue to hold Khalil on other grounds, in an ongoing attempt to deport him. They noted that Farbiarz had issued a preliminary injunction against detaining Khalil specifically based on the secretary of state’s legal rationale—but not on other charges.
“While the Court made a factual finding that it was unlikely that Khalil would be detained on another basis … the Court never held that it would be unlawful for Respondents to detain Khalil based on another charge of removability,” the attorneys wrote. “Khalil is charged as removable on a ground other than the Secretary of State’s determination.”
They wrote that Khalil will continue to be held for allegedly violating a federal law that says “any alien who, by fraud or willfully misrepresenting a material fact, seeks to procure (or has sought to procure or has procured) a visa, other documentation, or admission into the United States or other benefit provided under this chapter is inadmissible.”
Khalil has been detained since March and missed the birth of his son.
Kristen Shahverdian, campus free speech director at PEN America, a free expression advocacy group, said in a statement Friday that “the Trump administration’s tortured reasoning for Mahmoud Khalil’s continued detention makes clear how far they are willing to take their attempts to circumvent the rule of law. They are playing cynical word games with a man’s life and freedom.”
“Mahmoud Khalil was given the privilege of coming to America to study on a student visa he obtained by fraud and misrepresentation,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed. “While in the United States, Khalil has consistently engaged in conduct detrimental to American foreign policy interests including ongoing support for Hamas and harassment of Jewish students on campus. The law authorizes the Secretary of State to revoke green cards of individuals who pose a threat to American foreign-policy interests.”
