Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil ordered released by federal judge

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to release pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil from immigration custody.

Khalil, whose plight has been center stage of Trump’s vow to crack down on opponents of Israel’s incursion into Gaza, has been in the custody of immigration agents since March 8.

Government attorney Dhruman Sampat had argued that Congress has given the executive branch sweeping powers to determine who could be removed from the county.

The courts should not have the authority to interfere, Sampat said.

“I don’t think any of that is right,” U.S. District Court Judge Michael Farbiarz said during the remote hearing.

The judge added that there’s “very strong and uncontested record” that Khalil is not a flight risk and poses no danger to the public.

“I’m going to exercise the discretion that I have to order the release of the petitioner in this case,” added Farbiarz, who is based in New Jersey.

Farbiarz declined a government request to put a seven-day stay on his order to give the government more time to possibly fight it.

But it wasn’t immediately clear in the minutes after Farbiarz’s ruling when Khalil could be set free, from his current hold at a detention center in Jena, Louisiana.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil’s removal, arguing he poses a national security risk.

The Cold War-era statute gives the secretary of state authority to “personally determine” whether Khalil should remain in the country, the administration has argued.

But Khalil’s backers have insisted that the government’s actions are meant to stifle free speech on college campuses and silence opponents of Israel’s ongoing military action in Gaza.