
A prominent Palestinian activist’s case heads to court days after he was arrested and his green card revoked
CNN
When attorneys for Mahmoud Khalil enter a courthouse on Wednesday, they will have one mission in mind: to get their client, a Palestinian activist, released.
When attorneys for Mahmoud Khalil enter the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York on Wednesday, they will have one mission in mind: to get their client, a Palestinian activist, released from an ICE facility in Louisiana and back to New York to be closer to legal counsel and family. Khalil was arrested and detained on Saturday by federal agents over his role in protests against the Israel-Hamas war at Columbia University last spring. His green card was revoked by the Trump administration, his lawyer said, but a federal judge in New York blocked any immediate effort to deport Khalil until his attorneys and the federal government appear in court. The case, seemingly the first of its kind, sets the stage for what could come as the Trump administration ramps up its targeting of foreign students and pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses. President Donald Trump had touted Khalil’s arrest and vowed to find and deport others like him. “If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here,” Trump said on Truth Social on Monday. The White House has not provided evidence to support accusations against Khalil and it is not clear if he has been charged with any crime.

A federal judge on Monday rejected a request from the Trump administration to cancel an evidentiary hearing set for later this week in a major case concerning the government’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce, refusing to lift his order that the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management testify.

The California governor’s race isn’t waiting for former Vice President Kamala Harris to make up her mind whether she’s going to run. Former Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, who represented Orange County in the US House for three terms, announced Tuesday she’s entering the race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited from running again.