NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, urged a federal judge on Friday to free their client from an immigration detention center in Louisiana, describing his imprisonment there as a “Kafkaesque” ploy to chill free speech.
“The longer we wait, the more chill there is,” defense attorney Baher Azmy said. “Everyone knows about this case and is wondering if they’re going to get picked off the street for opposing U.S. foreign policy.”
The parties appeared Friday morning before a judge in Newark, New Jersey, to debate where Khalil’s legal fight to be released from federal custody should play out.
An attorney for the Department of Justice, August Flentje, wants the dispute litigated in Louisiana, where Khalil was taken after his arrest, “for jurisdictional certainty.”
U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said he would consider the “tricky” venue issues at play and issue a written decision soon. He declined to hear an argument for bail from Khalil’s attorneys, pointing to the need to settle the jurisdictional issue first.
Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdallah, an American citizen who is due to give birth next month, sat in the front row of the courtroom, surrounded by supporters. Scores of demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse on Friday morning, chanting, “Free Mahmoud,” and hoisting signs featuring his face.
“No matter what happens in court, what’s most important is for all of us to keep up the pressure,” said Ramzi Kassem, one of Khalil’s lawyers, after the hearing. “To let this government know that it cannot suppress speech.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has, in recent weeks, ramped up efforts to arrest and deport student activists who participated in protests against Israel.
Khalil served as a negotiator for pro-Palestinian Columbia students as they bargained with university officials over an end to their campus tent encampment last spring. The university ultimately called in the police to dismantle the encampment and a faction of protesters who seized an administration building.
Khalil was not among the people arrested in the Columbia protests and he has not been accused of any crime.
But the Trump administration has said it wants to deport Khalil because of his prominent role in the protests, which they say amounted to…