Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil calls himself a 'political prisoner' after U.S. immigration arrest
CBC
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University Palestinian graduate student who the Trump administration is seeking to deport for his role in pro-Palestinian protests, called himself a political prisoner in his first direct comments since his detention.
The detention of Khalil, a U.S. permanent resident, has been condemned by multiple human rights groups as an assault on free speech and due process. Over 100 Democratic lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives have questioned the detention's legality in a letter to the administration of Republican President Donald Trump.
In court, a U.S. judge on Wednesday denied a bid by the Trump administration to dismiss Khalil's challenge to the legality of his March 8 arrest by immigration agents.
But Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman agreed with the Justice Department that he did not have jurisdiction over the case. Furman ordered the case moved to federal court in the state of New Jersey, where Khalil was held at the time his lawyers first challenged his arrest.
Furman did not rule on Khalil's bid to be released on bail from detention.
Justice Department lawyers say Khalil, 30, was subject to deportation because Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined his U.S. presence could have "adverse foreign policy consequences."
Khalil's case could test where courts draw the line between protected speech guaranteed to citizens and non-citizens alike under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment and the executive branch's view that some protests can undermine foreign policy.
"My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner," Khalil said in a letter made public on Tuesday.
"My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night," Khalil said in the letter, referring to the latest renewed Israeli strikes on Gaza that local authorities said killed over 400 Palestinians.
Khalil's lawyers have urged that he be released immediately. Khalil became a U.S. lawful permanent resident last year. His wife is eight months pregnant.
Khalil's arrest sparked protests in different U.S. cities, including in New York City on Tuesday when hundreds gathered at Times Square demanding his release.
Trump has vowed to deport pro-Palestinian activists who took part in protests on U.S. college campuses against Israel's war in Gaza following an October 2023 Hamas attack. Trump has alleged the protesters are antisemitic and support Hamas militants.
Pro-Palestinian advocates, including some Jewish groups, say their criticism of Israel's assault on Gaza is wrongly conflated with antisemitism by their critics while their support for Palestinian rights is conflated with support for Hamas militants. Khalil said in Tuesday's letter his arrest was indicative of anti-Palestinian racism.
The government has not elaborated how Khalil could harm U.S. foreign policy. Trump, without evidence, has accused him of supporting Hamas. Khalil's legal team says he has no links to Hamas.
After nine hours of talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, officials emerged to announce that Ukraine had agreed to a U.S. proposal for an interim 30-day ceasefire along the sprawling 1,200 kilometre frontline.
Ukraine on Tuesday launched its biggest ever drone attack on Moscow, killing three people, injuring 18 others and causing a short shutdown at the Russian capital's four airports, Russian officials said.
Pope Francis is no longer in imminent danger of death as a result of pneumonia that has kept him hospitalized for nearly a month, doctors said Monday, but they have decided to keep him hospitalized for several more days to receive treatment.
A cargo ship hit a tanker carrying jet fuel off the coast of eastern England Monday, setting both vessels on fire and triggering a major rescue operation, emergency services said.
Children's school uniforms hung on the door. Their academic workbooks lay on their desks. Toys covered in dust were still sitting on the floor.
The death toll from two days of clashes between security forces and loyalists of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and revenge killings that followed has risen to more than 1,000, including nearly 750 civilians, a war monitoring group said Saturday, making it one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence since Syria's conflict began 14 years ago.
Antarctica is like no place on Earth.
Russian forces targeted Ukraine's energy and gas infrastructure in their latest drone and missile attack, Ukraine's energy minister said on Friday.
One trade war down, two to go — maybe more. U.S. President Donald Trump has dialled back his tariffs against Canada after rattling the economy from the markets, to factories, to the borders.
The United States broke a longstanding diplomatic taboo by holding secret talks with the militant Palestinian group Hamas on securing the release of U.S. hostages held in Gaza, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, while U.S. President Donald Trump warned of "hell to pay" should the Palestinian militant group not comply.
As Ukraine tries to repair its fractured relations with the U.S. administration, which abruptly halted military aid to the embattled country on Monday, Kyiv says it will be able to hold the sprawling front line in the ongoing war with Russia.
Canada can huff, and puff, but if anything's going to blow down Donald Trump's house of tariffs it's going to be the reaction within the United States.