Mahmoud Khalil’s supporters and advocates are breathing a sigh of relief after his release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, though they acknowledge the fight with the Trump administration over the immigration status of pro-Palestinian international college students is far from over.
“It’s a tremendous victory for free speech rights and for all those who are advocating for Palestinian human rights. This detention by ICE was a clear tactic designed to chill free speech and intimidate students,” said Zainab Chaudry, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) office in Maryland.
“It’s very clear that these tactics were not effective and they failed to thwart the movement. In fact, if anything, the movement is stronger than ever in terms of not just the sheer numbers of people who are speaking out and demanding justice and demanding accountability from colleges and university administrators, but also in terms of the types of protests and the language that’s being used,” Zainab Chaudry added.
Khalil, a green card holder and the former lead negotiator for the pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University, was arrested on March 8 and moved thousands of miles away to an ICE facility in Louisiana.
For three months, the Trump administration kept him detained on the grounds that Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined he was a threat to the country’s foreign policy. The government also later added a complaint that Khalil left prior work off of his permanent residency application.
Khalil, who is married to a U.S. citizen, missed the birth of their first child while in federal custody.
After he was released on Friday on a judge’s orders and made it back to New York on Saturday, he was greeted by supporters and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
“Your words of support, your messages, have kept me going,” Khalil told the group. “Still, the fight is far from over.”
In media interviews since his release, Khalil has made clear he will remain vocal of his support for Palestine despite the government looking to appeal the court’s decision and throw him back in detention for eventual deportation.
“That’s why I’m standing up against this administration: to remain with my family, but also to give other children a chance to be with theirs. U.S. tax dollars are now being used to kill fathers and babies back in Palestine. They’re being used to separate families here in the United States, under the watch of everyone. That’s what I will continue fighting,” Khalil told NPR.
Advocates and Khalil’s legal team have argued his detention was a violation of his First Amendment rights and has stifled free speech on campuses for other foreign students.
But the White House counters that it has wide discretion on immigration matters, saying a U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right.
“The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, CBS News reported. “An immigration judge has already vindicated this position. We expect a higher court to do the same.”
A final decision in Khalil’s proceedings could take months or years, a fight both he and his legal team say they are ready to take on.
“The fact that he is released, the fact that he has not a coward, despite this huge repressive move against him is, I think — goes a long way in maybe rolling back some of that chilling effect. But we won’t rest until the case is over and that he’s no longer in removal proceedings,” said Diala Shamas, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, one of the groups on Khalil’s legal team.
Khalil’s arrest marked the start of the Trump’s administration crackdown on foreign students.
After him, numerous others were detained, and thousands of students saw their visa status taken away and then reinstated.
President Trump is also fighting in the courts to end Harvard’s ability to enroll international students.
“It’s really, really important that courts continue to draw the line that they’ve been drawing in cases like Mahmoud, to stand up for really bedrock principles of free speech and expression, especially political speech and expression,” said Golnaz Fakhimi, legal director of Muslim Advocates.
Khalil told The New York Times that Trump “actually advanced the movement 20 years,” with pro-Palestinian sentiments stronger now than before his arrest.
“I’m free, but those who made me go through hell are still free outside and actually emboldened,” he said.
Justin Mazzola, a researcher for Amnesty International USA, warned that “despite these releases and despite the courts siding with the students in terms of their detentions,” the cases are ongoing and the administration’s policies are harming free speech in the meantime.
“I think this continued drumbeat of attacking universities under claims of antisemitism are not protecting Jewish students. It really ignores the fact that individuals still have the right to protest, and whatever you may think of the content of that protest, they should be able to go out and engage in these types of activities,” Mazzola said.