People gather outside of a New York court to protest the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil at Foley Square on March 12, 2025 in New York City.
Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist, was released from federal custody on Friday after being detained for more than three months on the Trump administration’s orders.
“No one is illegal — no human is illegal” Khalil said after he walked out of the La Salle ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana. “Justice will prevail no matter what this administration may try.” He said the first thing he wanted to do when he got home was “just hug my wife and son.”
Here’s what else he said to reporters immediately after his release:
Michael Farbiarz, a New Jersey federal judge, ruled Friday that Khalil be released from the Louisiana facility, stating that the federal government hasn’t provided enough evidence that supports his continued detention. “The petitioner is not a flight risk, and the evidence that has been presented to me at least is that he is not a danger to the community. Period, full stop,” he said, per CNN.
The Trump administration has alleged that Khalil, as part of his involvement with pro-Palestinian activism and protests on Columbia University’s campus, “led activities aligned to Hamas.” In a statement made shortly after Khalil’s arrest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Last week, Farbiarz ruled that the Trump administration couldn’t deport Khalil over its claims that he posed a national security risk. The federal government is continuing to allege that Khalil failed to disclose pertinent information while applying for permanent residency.
During Friday’s hearing, Farbiarz appeared to signal support for Khalil’s legal team’s argument that their client is being targeted over his expression of his First Amendment rights. “They suggest that there is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner — and, of course, that would be unconstitutional,” he said, per Politico.
It was on March 8 that Khalil, a legal permanent resident married to an American citizen, was approached at his home by federal immigration agents and arrested in front of his wife who was eight months pregnant with their first child. In the immediate aftermath of his arrest, Khalil’s family and attorneys alleged that they were told Khalil was to be transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Jersey only for him to have been moved to Jena, Louisiana where he has remained since his arrest.
In a statement released by the ACLU, Khalil’s wife Noor Abdalla praised the news of her husband’s ordered release. “After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” she said.
