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Mahmoud Khalil, SIPA ’24, will ‘not be removed’ from United States until court orders otherwise, U.S. District judge writes
The judge set a conference for Wednesday if both counsels deem a conference necessary.
By Gaby Díaz-Vendrell / Deputy Photo EditorKhalil was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at his University-owned New York City home on Saturday.By Spencer Davis • March 10, 2025 at 10:58 PM
By Spencer Davis • March 10, 2025 at 10:58 PM
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York wrote that Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, SIPA ’24, “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise,” in a Monday court order.
“To preserve the Court’s jurisdiction pending a ruling on the petition, Petitioner shall not be removed from the United States,” Furman wrote in the order.
Furman ordered a conference for Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. at a New York City courthouse, should both parties agree to its necessity. He wrote that counsels must confer by Tuesday at 5 p.m., “indicating whether the conference is necessary and addressing how the Court should handle the present Petition.”
Khalil’s attorney Amy Greer filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on Sunday challenging his arrest.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Khalil, a lead negotiator for the April 2024 “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” on Saturday night at his University-owned New York City home while with his wife, Greer told Spectator. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that ICE had arrested Khalil on Sunday.
Khalil was moved to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, Louisiana on Sunday, according to the ICE detainee locator. Louisiana is home to nine ICE detention centers.
A 2024 report from the American Civil Liberties Union, Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, the National Immigration Project, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights detailed “systemic human rights abuses” in Louisiana ICE facilities. Khalil is located in a detention center managed by LaSalle Corrections, which has been criticized for “overcrowding and understaffing” its facilities.
President Donald Trump wrote in a Monday post on Truth Social on Khalil’s arrest, “This is the first arrest of many to come.”
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 29 outlining a federal crackdown on “unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence,” including on college campuses. He threatened to deport “resident aliens” who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses in a Jan. 30 White House fact sheet.
“We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a Sunday X post, reposting an Associated Press article about Khalil’s detainment.
As of Monday afternoon, an Action Network petition demanding Khalil’s release from ICE custody has over 1.6 million signatures.
Deputy News Editor Spencer Davis can be contacted at spencer.davis@columbiaspectator.com. Follow him on X @spencerdaviis.
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