Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student facing deportation because of his pro-Palestinian activism on campus, appeared in court on Friday.
A federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, heard arguments on the government’s request to dismiss a petition without prejudice or move the case to Louisiana, where Khalil has been held in a detention center since his March 8 arrest.
Khalil filed a lawsuit, also known as a habeas petition, protesting his detention in New York. A New York judge previously ordered the case to continue in New Jersey because Khalil’s attorneys filed the petition while he was detained there.
The judge did not rule on Friday, but he said he would issue his order as "quickly as I can."
Baher Azmy, an attorney for Khalil, said the government's request to move the case was "radical." He said the government is "infringing on Khalil's right to free speech" and expressed concerns that the longer the case drags out in court, the more fear it could trigger in others.
"Everyone knows this case [and] is afraid that they will be taken off the street next," Azmy said.
He added that they want to focus on getting a judge to reduce Khalil's bail because "he’s obviously not a flight risk."
"The basis of his detention is unconstitutional, and most fundamentally, he’s been separated 1400 miles away from his wife, who’s due to give birth in weeks," the attorney said.
August Flentje, acting director of the Justice Department’s civil division, argued on behalf of the government and said Khalil was only in New Jersey for a few hours."
Flentje said the "safest way to go about this" would be to move the case to Louisiana.
A rally was held outside the courthouse, and several Columbia University students attended the hearing.
The Trump administration has cited a provision within immigration law to justify Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting Khalil at his university-owned apartment in New York. The provision allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens deemed a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
Following his arrest, Khalil was transported briefly to a facility in New Jersey and then taken to an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana. His attorney has said that Khalil, a native of Syria, is a permanent resident with a green card.
On Sunday, the Trump administration filed new allegations accusing Khalil of withholding information about his membership in certain organizations in his permanent residency application and failing to disclose his employment at the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
Khalil's lawyers denied the allegations and said he was targeted for free speech for supporting the Palestinian cause after he helped organize rallies at the university last year.
In the last few weeks, other students have been detained by immigration agents. Georgetown University graduate student Badar Khan Suri was arrested last week by masked agents outside his Arlington, Virginia, home. Columbia student Leqaa Kordia was also detained, while Columbia student Ranjani Srinivasan allegedly fled to Canada after her student visa was revoked.
