Judge Allows Columbia Student’s Lawsuit to Move Forward
(MENAFN) A federal judge in New Jersey has permitted a legal case to continue, involving a graduate student from Columbia University who alleges unlawful imprisonment by U.S. immigration authorities due to his role in campus protests supporting Palestine.
Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old who holds lawful permanent residency in the United States, was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on March 8.
His arrest followed his engagement in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University in New York.
After being taken into custody, he was denied the fundamental right to legal representation and a judicial hearing, before being transferred to a detention center located approximately 1,400 miles (2,253 kilometers) away in Louisiana.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), operating under the Trump administration, claimed that sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act barred the judiciary from evaluating Khalil's assertions related to the First Amendment, particularly those involving “freedom of speech and expression,” thereby justifying the lack of procedural fairness.
Nonetheless, the judge rejected that rationale, stating “that jurisdiction is not stripped over the Petitioner’s claims that the Secretary of State’s determination and the alleged policy are unconstitutional.”
Furthermore, an earlier judicial decision had already prohibited Khalil's removal from the country without prior court authorization.
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