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By Hannah Parry , Amanda Castro and Dan Gooding
Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and legal U.S. resident, are optimistic that a judge will rule to keep his case in New Jersey after a court hearing on Friday.
The Trump administration is pushing for Khalil's case to be transferred to Louisiana, where he is being held after his arrest in New York City.
During a federal court hearing on Friday, Khalil's lawyer, Baher Azmy, criticized the administration's stance, calling it a "radical" approach. He argued that the case was a significant concern for others, warning that people could fear being detained for their activism.
Azmy said, after the hearing, that they were still waiting for the judge's ruling on jurisdiction, which he said would come through shortly, but he was "optimistic" it would be in Khalil's favor/
"We're optimistic that when he retires to his chambers and reviews his briefs, he'll agree with us and reject the dangerous position offered by the government," he said.
What to know:
Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student with a green card, faces deportation due to his involvement in organizing campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.
His wife, who is eight months pregnant, attended today's hearing.
The Trump administration cites an 18th century wartime statute for the deportation, alleging that Khalil's actions threatened U.S. foreign-policy interests.
Khalil's legal team is challenging the move, arguing he should not face deportation for peaceful protest activities.
This case is part of broader efforts to target students and activists with pro-Palestinian views.
Newsweek's live blog is closed.
03:41 PM EDT
Lawyers fight to keep Palestinian activist's deportation case in New Jersey
Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and legal U.S. resident, are seeking to keep his case in New Jersey, where it was originally filed, as the Trump administration pushes for its transfer to Louisiana. During a federal court hearing on Friday, Khalil's lawyer, Baher Azmy, criticized the administration's stance, calling it a "radical" approach. He argued that the case was a significant concern for others, warning that people could fear being detained for their activism.
Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student with a green card, faces deportation due to his involvement in organizing campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war. His wife, who is eight months pregnant, attended the hearing. The administration's legal argument hinges on a rarely used statute allowing the deportation of noncitizens if their presence is deemed to harm foreign policy interests.
The case has already been moved once from a New York federal court to New Jersey. The Justice Department now seeks to have it transferred to Louisiana, where it would be subject to the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. A decision on whether the case belongs in New Jersey or Louisiana is expected soon.
01:53 PM EDT
WATCH: Moment Khalil's attorney says his client's arrest was 'purely retaliatory'
01:17 PM EDT
WATCH: Demonstrators crowd the streets waving signs calling for release of Mahmoud Khalil
01:02 PM EDT
Government is aware of ripple effect if judge rules against them in Khalil case: Lawyers
Khalil's attorney said that the Trump administration is well aware of the ripple effect on other cases of student protesters being targeted by ICE, if the judge rules against them in Mahmoud Khalil's case.
"The problem with delay, the problem with the government's movements here, it just furthers the retaliation," Azmy said.
"Everyone is watching to see whether or not, like him, like Rumeysa, like Doctor [Badar Khan] Suri, they will be arrested at night by ICE officers, sometimes not uniformed, and disappeared into Louisiana."
Azmy said he believed the government was hoping to delay as much as possible, in order to stop the court deciding Khalil's detention was unconstitutional.
12:49 PM EDT
Judge indicates ruling will come shortly: Khalil's lawyer
Baher Azmy, Khalil's attorney, said that the judge had indicated that the ruling on jurisdiction would come shortly.
The judge did not hold a bail hearing today but Azmy said he was hopeful that it would come "very, very" quickly after the jurisdiction ruling.
"We're now running over two weeks of conferment and his wife's pending birth," he said.
"We would have preferred that he heard our argument on bail today, and decided everything together as quickly as possible but we're hopeful that he will decide this issue, this jurisdictional issue first and then move very, very quickly to deicide the bail motion given the outrageous circumstances of this case."
12:43 PM EDT
Khalil's attorney says 'retaliatory' detention comes as the Columbia student's wife is set to give birth
Baher Azmy, Khalil's attorney, told Newsweek that his client's arrest was "purely retaliatory", and that he was not a flight risk.
"Most fundamentally and heartbreakingly, his wife is due to give birth in weeks," Azmy said outside the court.
12:32 PM EDT
Khalil's legal team says government is trying to delay case until uproar dies down
Several of Mahmoud Khalil's legal team said they believe that the Trump administration is attempting to delay the case, until much of the uproar and backlash surround Khalil's detainment and deportation dies down.
Ramzi Kassem, the founding director of CLEAR which offers free legal representation to Muslims and other communities, told the press outside the New Jersey court today, "The reason they are fighting so hard on jurisdiction, as extraordinary as that is, is because they want buy time, they want to buy time in the hope that all of you will go away... so they can get away with what they are trying to Mr. Khalil and to others.
Baher Azmy, another of one of Khalil's lawyers, added, "Yeah the government's motivation here is to delay, and as much as possible, the adjudication of the actual illegality of their unconstitutional actions. They want to avoid that."
12:29 PM EDT
Legal team 'optimistic' judge will rule in Khalil's favor
Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's lawyers, said that he was "optimistic" the judge would rule in their favor, as they await his order.
"The judge is extremely smart, very well prepared, asked hard questions for sure, that we were ready for," he said outside the New Jersey court today.
"We're optimistic that when he retires to his chambers and reviews his briefs, he'll agree with us and reject the dangerous position offered by the government."
12:11 PM EDT
ACLU executive director accuses Trump administration of attacking 'bedrock principles of our democracy'
Amol Sinha, executive director of ACLU New Jersey, accused the Trump administration of attacking the "bedrock principles of our democracy" with their detention and attempts to deport Mahmoud Khalil.
"As we await the court's ruling what I am reminded of is the egregious nature of what the government has done," he said, speaking outside court in New Jersey on Friday.
"It is anti-democratic, un-American, illegal and unconstitutional to suppress speech, censor somebody, detain them and attempt to deport them and revoke their green card for speaking their mind.
"Regardless of where you might fall on the ideological spectrum... if you care about free speech... you should be outraged by what the government has done to our client."
Sinha said that the ACLU and Kahlil's legal team were going to continue to fight and push for his release for as long as it takes.
"We're not going to back down when our government tries to attack our most fundamental and bedrock principles of our democracy," he said.
12:03 PM EDT
Legal teams still waiting for judge's ruling on Khalil
Members of Mahmoud Khalil's legal team said they are still awaiting the legal ruling from the judge on whether Khalil can be moved back from Louisiana, where he was taken by ICE during his arrest in New Jersey.
11:57 AM EDT
Khalil lawyer: What they've done in court today is dangerous
Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's lawyers, spoke outside the New Jersey court today where a hearing on the case was held.
Azmy warned that the U.S. government had created a policy "targeting Palestinian activists" because it disagrees with their "constitutionally protected right" to disagree with American foreign policy.
"We're in court today because they United States government, after arresting our client Mahmoud Khalil, spirited him overnight to Louisiana in order to avoid the jurisdiction of the courts in New York and New Jersey," he said.
"We were here to insist that the court take jurisdiction of this case, bring him back to New Jersey and then immediately thereafter rule on his requests for release, his requests for bail and rule on his broader petition that his detention is unconstitutional.
"Because as we said in court this is not any routine immigration case, or habeas transfer case, this is a case when they United States government has created a policy targeting Palestinian activists and specifically Mahmoud Khalil for arrest, detention and potential remove because the United States disagrees with his constitutionally protected right to dissent from US foreign policy."
11:21 AM EDT
Speakers highlight recent student visa holders' arrests
Speakers at the rally outside of the courthouse where Khalil's hearing is taking place are touching upon the student visa holders who were also detained recently.
Read more Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
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Map Shows Where ICE Has Targeted Pro-Palestinian Students
Who Is Rumeysa Ozturk? Tufts University Student Detained by ICE
Yunseo Chung Speaks Out After Judge Blocks ICE Deporting Columbia Student
10:56 AM EDT
State Dept pledges to continue to revoke visas of student protesters
A State Department spokesperson told Newsweek that the agency will continue to revoke the visas of student protesters, despite the backlash and legal battles.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that his department may have already revoked more than 300 visas, and said that the Trump administration was looking for more of "these lunatics."
"It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas," Rubio said at a press conference in Guyana. "At some point, I hope we run out because we've gotten rid of all of them, but we're looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up."
On Friday, the State Department spokesperson added, "As the Secretary indicated, the Department revokes visas every day in order to secure America's borders and keep our communities safe - and will continue to do so.
"Because the process is ongoing, the number of revocations is dynamic. The Department generally does not provide statistics on visa revocations, and we do not have anything additional to provide at this time."
10:40 AM EDT
WATCH: Hundreds of protesters gather outside court for Mahmoud Khalil
10:31 AM EDT
Khalil broke his silence in a letter from jail. Read it in full
This is the full text of the letter:
"My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner. I am writing to you from a detention facility in Louisiana where I wake to cold mornings and spend long days bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law.
Who has the right to have rights? It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here. It isn't the Senegalese man I met who has been deprived of his liberty for a year, his legal situation in limbo and his family an ocean away. It isn't the 21-year-old detainee I met, who stepped foot in this country at age nine, only to be deported without so much as a hearing.
Justice escapes the contours of this nation's immigration facilities.
On March 8, I was taken by DHS agents who refused to provide a warrant, and accosted my wife and me as we returned from dinner. By now, the footage of that night has been made public. Before I knew what was happening, agents handcuffed and forced me into an unmarked car. At that moment, my only concern was for Noor's safety. I had no idea if she would be taken too, since the agents had threatened to arrest her for not leaving my side. DHS would not tell me anything for hours — I did not know the cause of my arrest or if I was facing immediate deportation. At 26 Federal Plaza, I slept on the cold floor. In the early morning hours, agents transported me to another facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. There, I slept on the ground and was refused a blanket despite my request.
My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night. With January's ceasefire now broken, parents in Gaza are once again cradling too-small shrouds, and families are forced to weigh starvation and displacement against bombs. It is our moral imperative to persist in the struggle for their complete freedom.
Mahmoud Khalil Student Negotiator
Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is on the Columbia University campus in New York at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on Monday, April 29, 2024. Ted Shaffrey/AP PhotoI was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria to a family which has been displaced from their land since the 1948 Nakba. I spent my youth in proximity to yet distant from my homeland. But being Palestinian is an experience that transcends borders. I see in my circumstances similarities to Israel's use of administrative detention — imprisonment without trial or charge — to strip Palestinians of their rights. I think of our friend Omar Khatib, who was incarcerated without charge or trial by Israel as he returned home from travel. I think of Gaza hospital director and pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was taken captive by the Israeli military on December 27 and remains in an Israeli torture camp today. For Palestinians, imprisonment without due process is commonplace.
I have always believed that my duty is not only to liberate myself from the oppressor, but also to liberate my oppressors from their hatred and fear. My unjust detention is indicative of the anti-Palestinian racism that both the Biden and Trump administrations have demonstrated over the past 16 months as the U.S. has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention. For decades, anti-Palestinian racism has driven efforts to expand U.S. laws and practices that are used to violently repress Palestinians, Arab Americans, and other communities. That is precisely why I am being targeted.
While I await legal decisions that hold the futures of my wife and child in the balance, those who enabled my targeting remain comfortably at Columbia University. Presidents Shafik, Armstrong, and Dean Yarhi-Milo laid the groundwork for the U.S. government to target me by arbitrarily disciplining pro-Palestinian students and allowing viral doxing campaigns — based on racism and disinformation — to go unchecked.
Columbia targeted me for my activism, creating a new authoritarian disciplinary office to bypass due process and silence students criticizing Israel. Columbia surrendered to federal pressure by disclosing student records to Congress and yielding to the Trump administration's latest threats. My arrest, the expulsion or suspension of at least 22 Columbia students — some stripped of their B.A. degrees just weeks before graduation — and the expulsion of SWC President Grant Miner on the eve of contract negotiations, are clear examples.
If anything, my detention is a testament to the strength of the student movement in shifting public opinion toward Palestinian liberation. Students have long been at the forefront of change — leading the charge against the Vietnam War, standing on the frontlines of the civil rights movement, and driving the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Today, too, even if the public has yet to fully grasp it, it is students who steer us toward truth and justice.
The Trump administration is targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent. Visa-holders, green-card carriers, and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs. In the weeks ahead, students, advocates, and elected officials must unite to defend the right to protest for Palestine. At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all.
10:29 AM EDT
'Hands off our students now!'
Protestors gather outside the New Jersey courthouse where Khalil's hearing is underway.
They're chanting, "Hands off our students now!"
10:12 AM EDT
Hundreds of protesters gather outside court for Khalil
Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside a Newark, New Jersey, court in support of Mahmoud Khalil.
Many waved Palestinian flags and held up signs that read, "Protesting against genocide is not a crime", "ICE off our campuses" and "Free Mahmoud."
Chants of "Release Mahmoud right now" could be heard from the crowds.
10:06 AM EDT
Newsweek reporter on the ground on New Jersey for hearing
Newsweek reporter Dan Gooding is in New Jersey this morning to attend the latest hearing in Khalil's case.
There are currently protestors on the scene.
09:49 AM EDT
Judge moves case of detained Columbia student to New Jersey
A federal judge in New York has moved the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student detained by federal immigration agents, to New Jersey. Khalil, who is currently held in Louisiana, was arrested on March 8 as part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration on pro-Palestinian activists. Khalil's attorneys are fighting for the case to remain in New Jersey, arguing that it is closer to his wife, who is about to give birth.
The decision on jurisdiction must be made before the court addresses whether Khalil's detention, as a green card holder, is lawful. He is scheduled to appear before an immigration judge on April 8 for a removal proceeding.
Khalil, born in Syria to a Palestinian family, was detained after serving as a spokesperson for pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year. The Trump administration has claimed his actions undermined U.S. foreign policy, while Khalil and his supporters argue the detention is rooted in anti-Palestinian sentiment. No charges have been filed against him or other students detained in recent weeks.
09:36 AM EDT
OPINION: Mahmoud Khalil's attorney: ICE arrest of my client illegal, unconstitutional
Mahmoud Khalil
Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo
My client, Mahmoud Khalil, is a 30-year-old Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University. Today, he should be at home with his wife in New York City, awaiting the birth of their first child next month. Instead, he's locked up in a cell in Louisiana, 1,400 miles away.
On Saturday, March 8, armed federal agents arrested Mr. Khalil in the lobby of his apartment building. A publicly released video captures the moment when they cuffed him in front of his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant. They told Mr. Khalil's lawyer over the phone that they were acting on an order to revoke his student visa. When his lawyer told them that he was, in fact, a legal permanent resident with a green card, the agents said the government had revoked that as well.
After sleeping on the floor in a facility in lower Manhattan, Mr. Khalil was transferred to an immigration jail in New Jersey. Then, after his lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court challenging the legality of his detention, the Department of Homeland Security abruptly flew him to an immigration jail in rural Louisiana.
The Trump administration is seeking to deport Mr. Khalil simply because he is a dedicated Palestinian human-rights defender who has spoken out against Israel's assault on Gaza, and against the U.S. and Columbia University's complicity.
Read in full from Samah Sisay, Kahlil's attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, on Newsweek.
09:35 AM EDT
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
Khalil finished his graduate studies at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in December 2024. Prior to attending Columbia, he received a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the Lebanese American University, according to the Society for International Development (SID).
A profile of him on SID states that he has worked for the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut and Jusoor, a Syrian American educational nonprofit.
Last year, while he was a student at Columbia, he served as a negotiator for pro-Palestinian protestors and the university administration over tent encampments. He was a member of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group.
Prior to his arrest, the Palestinian activist told AP last week, "I have around 13 allegations against me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with."
The allegations are from the university's newly created Office of Institutional Equity, which has sent dozens of notices to students who have participated in a range of activities in support of Palestinians, according to the AP. Khalil has been accused of organizing an event that glorified Hamas' October 7 attack. The U.S. recognizes Hamas as a terror organization.
Read the full story by Mandy Taheri on Newsweek.
09:21 AM EDT
Tufts University student detained by ICE after pro-Palestinian activism
Video Shows Masked Federal Agents Detaining And
Surveillance video shows masked federal agents detaining and handcuffing Turkish doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. AP Photo
Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk has been detained by federal immigration authorities, sparking accusations from her attorney of "stalking Muslims." Ozturk, 30, was arrested on March 25, 2025, while heading to break her Ramadan fast in Somerville, Massachusetts. Surveillance footage shows plainclothes ICE agents surrounding her and placing her in handcuffs before transferring her to a Louisiana detention facility, despite a court order prohibiting her removal.
Ozturk's attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, condemned the actions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), claiming the arrest was politically motivated. Ozturk, a Turkish Ph.D. student, co-authored an opinion essay in 2024 criticizing Tufts University's ties to companies linked to Israel. DHS claims she was detained for supporting Hamas, a group deemed a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government, but Ozturk's legal team insists her detention violates her First Amendment rights.
Her case has sparked widespread protests and concerns about the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists and the disregard for court rulings. Over 2,000 people gathered in Somerville in support of Ozturk. Her legal team is working to secure her release.
09:04 AM EDT
Map shows where ice has targeted pro-Palestinian students
The Trump administration has now revoked over 20 student visas belonging to those it deems as being pro-Hamas, it was reported Thursday.
According to Fox News, the Department of State said it had terminated the visas due to the "national security concerns connected to these foreign aliens." Over the past two days, at least two doctoral students were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Newsweek reached out to the Departments of State and Homeland Security for comment via email Thursday morning on how student visa revocation was being implemented.
The Trump administration has made it clear that it will seek to revoke visas belonging to foreign students who have been linked to pro-Hamas activities, including college campus protests and distributing materials such as flyers. The move comes from President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to root out antisemitism, but the actions have been seen by some as an infringement on First Amendment free speech rights.
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