A federal judge on Wednesday granted Mahmoud Khalil’s request for a preliminary injunction after concluding that he would continue to suffer irreparable harm if he remained detained. This comes after the court held last week that Khalil was likely to succeed on the merits of his constitutional challenge to the government’s detention and attempted deportation on foreign policy grounds.
The court also ruled that it was unconstitutional to detain and seek to deport someone purely for their advocacy, here on behalf of Palestinian human rights. The government has until 9:30 AM on Friday to appeal the decision before Khalil must be released.
“This is the news we’ve been waiting over three months for. Mahmoud must be released immediately and safely returned home to New York to be with me and our newborn baby, Deen,” said Dr Noor Abdalla, Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, a presser from Center for Constitutional Rights stated.
“True justice would mean Mahmoud was never taken away from us in the first place, that no Palestinian father, from New York to Gaza, would have to endure the painful separation of prison walls like Mahmoud has. I will not rest until Mahmoud is free, and hope that he can be with us to experience his first Father’s Day at home in New York with Deen in his arms.”
The preliminary injunction blocks the Trump administration from using the provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked to detain and attempt to deport Khalil, and other students and students and scholars, for their speech. This is the first federal court to rule that Khalil and other noncitizens cannot be deported based solely on the so-called “foreign policy ground” of the INA, a blow to the Trump administration’s attempt to suppress the speech of those who protest and speak out in support of Palestinian rights.
The court found that “it is overwhelmingly likely that the Petitioner would not be detained based solely on the lawful-permanent-resident-application charge. Rather, the Court finds, the Petitioner’s detention almost surely flows from the charge that is based on the Secretary of State’s determination.”
“We are relieved that the court documented what was obvious to the world, which is that the government’s vindictive and unconstitutional arrest, detention and attempted deportation of Mahmoud for his Palestinian activism is causing him and his family agonizing personal and professional harm,” said Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “We look forward to his reunion with his wife and newborn son, and for this remarkable, brilliant man to reclaim his life and his reputation.”
This decision comes less than a week after the court asked for and received additional information about the irreparable harm Mr. Khalil is experiencing in ICE detention in order to rule on his outstanding request for release and the preliminary injunction.
On March 8, the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) illegally arrested and detained Mr. Khalil in direct retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights at Columbia University. Shortly after, DHS transferred him 1,300 miles away to a Louisiana detention facility — ripping him away from his wife and legal counsel. Since being unlawfully detained, Mr. Khalil has been forced to miss the birth of his first child and other irreplaceable moments in his family’s life.
