Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had no warrants when they arrested Mahmoud Khalil, according to court documents claiming the Trump administration was legally justified.
Halil’s lawyers asked an immigration judge who has been in custody for weeks by Louisiana immigration judges and asked him to close his case as ice agents arrested him without a warrant.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Khalil, a Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian advocate, was arrested for “exigent circumstances.”
DHS’s lawyers claimed that when Ice Agent went to arrest Halil in New York in early March, he was able to do so without a warrant because he feared that he would “run away” before the agent could obtain it.
Khalil’s lawyers alleged that the administration did not provide evidence that the man refused to cooperate with the agent during his arrest.
“The lawyer’s argument is not evidence,” said Halil’s team, with documents and witness statements saying Halil “completely adhered to the agents arresting him.”
Green card holder Halil has been in custody for almost two months. He was aiming for the role of the chief negotiator for the pro-Palestinian camp on the Columbia University campus last year.
In court documents released Thursday, federal agents alleged that they were within their right to detain Halil because he had not carried the green card. According to Khalil’s wife, she went to their apartment upstairs, grabbed his green card for the officers and filmed the arrest.
“The applicable warrant requirements and agents were within the legal authority to arrest respondents on March 8th,” the document reads.
The Khalil lawsuit has been widely publicized and viewed as a marker of the Trump administration’s attempt to detain and detain visa holders who have protested or acted on behalf of Palestine.
His lawyers recently called for a temporary abandonment of his detention so that he can witness the birth of his first child. It was rejected and his wife gave birth earlier this week.
Earlier this month, the judge discovered that Khalil was entitled to be taken away from the country. His legal team is suing the decision and seeking his release in federal court.
Oka contacted DHS for comments.
