March 12, 2025, a U.S. judge extended his order blocking federal authorities from attempting to deport the first official person from Trump’s Antisemitic Executive Order. The Columbia University student has become a ticking time bomb for the Trump Administration’s pledge to deport pro-Palestinian college activists.
Mahmoud Khalil
U.S District Judge Jesse Furman, appointed by President Barack Obama, had temporarily blocked Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation and extended the prohibition on Wednesday following a written order after a hearing in Manhattan federal court. The extension gave Judge Furman more time to consider whether the arrest was unconstitutional.
On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Khalil outside of the university residence in Manhattan for his outspoken advocacy against Israel and for supporting Hamas’s October 7th attack. His arrest violated Khalil’s right to free speech, which is protected under the First Amendment.
According to CBS News, Khalil was transferred from a detention center in Elizabeth, NJ to a detention center in Jena, Louisiana. His attorneys claimed they have been unable to have privileged communications with him since his transfer.
Mahmoud Khalil’s attorney states they will not be able to have the privileged communications until March 20th as the detention facility is forbidding that type of call.
Currently, it is unclear whether Khalil will be moved closer to New York as Judge Furman did not rule on the effort made by Khalil’s attorneys. In the meantime, he will remain in the Jena, Louisiana, detention center.
Khalil graduated from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is outspoken towards Israel. In 2024, Mahmoud attended a protest, known as “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” that turned violent and led the negotiations on behalf of Columbia’s student body. He was not involved with the group that turned the protest violent.
According to the New York Post, Khalil served as a political affairs officer with the UNRWA- a UN agency that was stripped of tens of millions in federal funding after a report that some members took part in the October 7th attack. However, Khalil’s service claim has not been verified of its accuracy and validated by any mainstream media, Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, or Petitioner’s Motion to Compel. The affidavit is not publicly available at this time.
His wife states the experience has been an “intense and targeted doxxing campaign” focused on “spreading false claims about my husband that were simply not based in reality.” Days before the arrest, Khalils said they had been seeking legal help before the arrival of federal agents.
On Monday, Trump’s ticking time bomb is set to explode as he states, “just the first of many to come” as the White House sets a crackdown on students and alleged agitators protesting Israel’s war.
A statement given by the White House spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, states Khalil was “given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges- and he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege by siding with terrorists.”
However, Khalil has been accused of making statements supporting Hamas and the attacks of October 7th, but he is not being accused of providing material support.
On Monday, in a statement from Amy Greer, she said that Khalil was “chosen as an example to stile entirely lawful dissent in violation of the First Amendment.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes that the case is “not about free speech.” He continues, “this is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with.”
Marco Rubio added, “No one has a right to a student visa,” and “No one has a right to a green card, by the way. So, when you apply for student visa or any visa to enter the United States, we have a right to deny you for virtually any reason, but I think being a supporter of Hamas and coming into our universities and turning them upside down and being complicit and what are crimes of vandalization, complicit in shutting down learning institutions.”
As of right now, the Trump Administration has yet to provide proof that Mahmoud Khalil didn’t have the right to be in the United States. Khalil held a permanent residency. Not a student visa or a work visa.