Federal judge orders release of foreign student activist Mahmoud Khalil from ICE detention
20 June 2025, 21:00 | Updated: 20 June 2025, 21:01
A judge has ordered that Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested in March after his involvement in Columbia University's pro-Palestinian protests last year, be released on bail after over three months in detention.
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The foreign student and prominent voice in last year's pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Columbia University's campus is set to be released from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre in Jena, Louisiana.
Federal judge Michael Farbiarz said during a hearing on Friday that Mr Khalil, who is a legal resident of the US, is not a flight risk, and “is not a danger to the community. Period, full stop.”
Mr Khalil's arrest on March 8 sparked public outrage and demonstrations in New York and Washington, DC. The foreign student's arrest was the first in a series of arrests as the Trump administration cracked down on foreign students protesting on US university campuses. Mr Khalil served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists during the Columbia protests.
“It is highly, highly unusual to be seeking detention of a petitioner given the factual record of today,” the judge also said during the hearing on Friday.
The US government has not accused Mr Khalil of a specific crime.
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He has been held in a detention centre by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for over three months under two charges.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked the Immigration and Nationality Act to argue that the presence of the foreign student in the US could pose "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences."
Last week, Judge Farbiarz ruled Rubio's justification for Mr Khalil's detention was likely unconstitutional, and said the US government could not detain or deport Mr Khalil, who is a legal US resident, under that reasoning.
Attorneys working for the Trump administration responded to this ruling by stating that Mr Khalil was being detained for failing to disclose information during his application for permanent residency in the US in 2024.
Judge Farbiarz said of this charge on Friday: "It's overwhelmingly unlikely that a lawful permanent resident would be held on the remaining charge here."
He added that "there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner" for his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests.
The Trump administration has argued that international students who are not US residents who participate in such demonstrations should be deported from the country, as it considers their views anti-semitic.
Mr Khalil's attorneys have argued that the government is violating his free speech rights. They also asked the New Jersey federal court to free him on bail.
Mr Khalil graduated from Columbia during his detention. His wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, who gave birth to their first child during his detention, accepted his diploma on his behalf.
She said that she can finally "breathe a sigh of relief" following the ruling.
“We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others,” she said in a statement provided by Khalil’s lawyers.
“But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family.”
Mr Khalil is set to soon leave detention. Details of his bail requirements are not immediately available.