The lawyer for Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia graduate student, is scheduled to face the Trump administration in a New Jersey court on Friday as the president's team fights to deport anti-Israel activists.
Judge Michael E. Fabiartz's hearing will be held before 10am in federal court in Newark, New Jersey. New York Judge Jesse Furman moved the case to New Jersey, where Halil was in custody, when his lawyer filed a warrant for their former habeas corps that challenged him to detention.
However, Halil was later moved to Louisiana, where the Trump administration hopes the case unfolds.
Halil, who holds a legal permanent resident status in the United States, was under the regime's rage over alleged support for Hamas terrorists in the aftermath of the attack on Israel on October 7, 2022. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Halil “led activities in line with Hamas, the designated terrorist organization.”
Ivy League anti-Israel ring leader Mahmoud Khalil withholds details of foreign bonds from Visa applications: Feds
Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil will discuss with the press during a media briefing hosted by pro-Palestinian protesters who set up a new camp at Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus on June 1, 2024 on Friday evening in New York City. (Getty Images)
“We could cancel visas and green cards for Hamas supporters in the US and potentially deporting them,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X earlier this month.
DHS allegedly filed in a Sunday application In the US District Court in New Jersey, Halil's intentional failure to disclose employment with the Syrian embassy at the British Embassy in Beirut intentionally failed when he applied for a permanent US residency.
Federal officials argued that in his application of status, Halil is unacceptable at the time of his adjustments, due to “a fraud or intentional misrepresentation of material facts.”
The agency also accused Halil of failing to disclose his work with the United Nations Relief and Labor Bureau for membership with Palestinian refugees and membership in the sale of Columbia University apartheid.
“It is Black law that misrepresentation in this context is not a protected speech,” the submission said. “Therefore, Halil's first claim for amendment to the constitution is a red herring.”
“Win without a war banner” outside the White House on March 26, 2025, the group is calling on President Trump to release Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian refugee whose green card was revoked after being involved in a demonstration at Columbia University. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Win Without War)
One of Kalil's lawyers, Mark van der Hout, and Kalil's wife, Noor Abdallah, issued a statement in a series of Instagram posts. They characterized Halil as “a political prisoner detained in an ice facility in Louisiana.”
Khalil's lawyers argue that his support for Palestinians is protected by free speech, and that the administration's efforts to deport his country are an effort to prevent “present and future speech” and to prevent others from doing the same.
“The policies applied to Mr. Halil do not give appropriate notice to those residing in the country, which aims to target detention and removal as a result of other mandatory speeches, opinions, beliefs or advocacy.
His lawyers also noted that the administration did not define who would be considered a “Hamas supporter.” They say it's not clear that Halil's activities are “aligned with Hamas.”
Protesters oppose the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbian graduate student in New York City, on Monday, March 10, 2025. Halil was one of the leading student organizers for the student camp at Columbia University last year. (Fox News Digital's Stephanie Keith)
A federal judge for the Southern District of New York blocked the Trump administration's efforts to deport Halil on March 10th.
The video shows the arrest of Colombian anti-Israel ring leader Mahmoud Khalil
On March 18th, Halil wrote: “A few weeks ahead, students, supporters and elected officials must unite to defend their right to protest against Palestine. It is not just our voices that are at stake, but all the fundamental civic liberties.
Halil, Originally from Syria And Algerian citizens entered the United States on a student visa in 2022 and later submitted to become permanent residents in 2024.
He is the first target of the Trump administration's crusades that revoked his student visa to participate in the protest.
See Mahmoud Khalil's arrest:
Halil's arrest comes after President Donald Trump issued it on January 29th Presidential Order entitled “Additional Measures to Fight Anti-Semitism,” which reports on activities by university students and staff on the grounds of anti-Semitism.
Columbia student claims that classmates arrested by ice “hate America”
Anti-Israel protests wreaked havoc on university campuses following the attack on October 7, 2023, leading to Trump's campaign promise Revokes foreign student visas.
“All resident aliens who participated in the jihadist protests, we have notified you: Come in 2025, we will find you, and we will expel you,” Trump is quoted in a fact sheet issued by the White House. “I will also quickly cancel all Hamas sympathizer student visas on university campus.
Protesters oppose the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbian graduate student in New York City, on Monday, March 10, 2025. Halil was one of the leading student organizers for the student camp at Columbia University last year. (Fox News Digital's Stephanie Keith)
DHS and ICE did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Halil is represented by Amy Greer of the Constitutional Rights Center, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Alina Dass, co-director of the Immigration Rights Clinic at the Faculty of Law. Fox News Digital reached out for comment.
Maria Paronich of Fox News contributed to this report.
