A pro-Palestine activist and Columbia University graduate student was ordered freed by a judge three months after ICE took him into custody over claims he is a Hamas supporter.
Mahmoud Khalil must be freed on bail, a New Jersey federal judge ruled on Friday, in a major victory for the protestor.
A lawful resident in the US, Khalil was taken into custody on March 8, 2025, as the Trump administration cracked down on pro-Palestine demonstrations on college campuses.
Khalil was one of the primary organizers of protests that took over Columbia over the last year as the Israel – Hamas conflict was ignited.
Judge Michael E. Farbiaz ruled that none of the Trump administration’s allegations against Khalil justified his continued detention, and sided with Khalil’s argument that he was locked up as an unlawful retaliation for his activism.
In his ruling on Friday, Farbiarz said: ‘There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish Mr. Khalil – And of course that would be unconstitutional.’
Khalil has not been charged with a crime, but the judge’s order to free him comes as the Trump White House continues efforts to deport him from the US.
Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestine activist and Columbia University graduate student was ordered freed by a judge three months after ICE took him into custody over claims he is a Hamas supporter
When he was detained earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Khalil of spreading anti-Semitism.
He was detained under the Cold War–era Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which states that non-US citizens can be deported if they are antagonistic against US foreign policy.
But in their successful filing to free Khalil this week, the graduate student’s attorneys argued that he was not spreading anti-Semitism when he campaigned for Palestine in its war with Israel.
Judge Farbiarz had previously ruled that the foreign policy law was not enough to justify Khalil’s detention, and his ruling on Friday shot down further allegations from the Trump administration that Khalil made paperwork errors when applying for citizenship last year.
