(Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Wednesday 12, 2025, extended an order preventing federal authorities from deporting a detained Columbia University student, a case that has become a focal point in the Trump administration’s efforts to expel certain pro-Palestinian college activists.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman had initially halted the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil earlier in the week and reaffirmed the prohibition in a written order following a hearing in Manhattan federal court. The extension allows the judge more time to determine whether Khalil’s arrest was unconstitutional.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argues that Khalil, 30, is subject to deportation under a legal provision permitting the removal of migrants deemed by the U.S. Secretary of State to be incompatible with U.S. foreign policy. According to a document reviewed by Reuters, the DHS stated, “The Secretary of State has determined that your presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” The document, dated March 9, ordered Khalil to appear before an immigration judge on March 27 but did not provide further details. DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Khalil’s legal team contends that his arrest outside his university residence in Manhattan on Saturday was an act of retaliation for his outspoken criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza following Hamas’ October 2023 attack. His lawyers argue that the arrest violated his First Amendment right to free speech.
“Mr. Khalil was identified, targeted, detained, and is being processed for deportation on account of his advocacy for Palestinian rights,” Khalil’s attorney, Ramzi Kassem, stated in court.
Following the hearing, Khalil’s wife, Noora Abdalla, gave her first media interview, expressing hope that her husband would be released and return to New York before the birth of their first child next month.
“It’s been so hard not having him here,” she said. “There’s a lot of emotions and pain. He’s been there for me truly every step of the way.”
Outside the courthouse, Kassem emphasized that the legal provision cited by DHS is rarely used and was not intended to suppress political dissent.
Khalil, who was born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, arrived in the U.S. on a student visa in 2022 and obtained permanent residency last year. He has been an active member of Columbia University’s protest movement against Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has alleged on social media that Khalil supports Hamas, though his administration has neither charged him with a crime nor presented evidence to substantiate the claim. The Trump administration has also asserted that pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, including Columbia, have included expressions of support for Hamas and instances of antisemitic harassment of Jewish students. However, student protest organizers argue that criticism of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism.
“This is not about free speech,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Ireland earlier on Wednesday. “Being a supporter of Hamas and coming into our universities and turning them upside down… If you told us that’s what you intended to do when you came to America, we would have never let you in.”
A Legal Test for Free Speech and Immigration
Khalil’s case could set a precedent for how immigration courts delineate the boundary between constitutionally protected free speech and alleged support for groups the U.S. designates as terrorist organizations.
Outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan, hundreds of protesters gathered, holding signs that read “Release Mahmoud Khalil” and chanting “Down, down with deportation, up, up with liberation.”
During the hearing, government attorney Brandon Waterman argued that Khalil’s legal challenge should be transferred to New Jersey, where he was first detained, or Louisiana, where he is currently being held.
Judge Furman also ordered that Khalil be granted two hour-long private phone calls with his legal team—one on Wednesday and another on Thursday—after Kassem reported that Khalil’s only previous call with his attorney from detention in Louisiana had been cut off prematurely and conducted on a monitored line.
Even before the judge’s order blocking deportation, there had been no indication that Khalil’s removal was imminent. He retains the right to plead his case before an immigration judge, a process that could take a considerable amount of time.
