Federal Judge Upholds Mahmoud Khalil’s Detention Two Days After Scheduling His Release

Katya Yindra

On Wednesday (06/11), US District Judge Michael Farbiarz issued a temporary reprieve for Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, blocking his deportation in a closely watched case that has become a flash point in the Trump administration’s campaign against student-led campus protests over the US-Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The judge ruled that Khalil could not be detained based solely on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s designation that his speech and advocacy conflict with US foreign policy interests. The ruling set Khalil’s bond at $1 and gave the government until 9:30 a.m. Friday to appeal.

However, by Friday, despite the government not meeting the deadline to appeal, the Biden-appointed judge argued that new charges provided sufficient grounds for continued detention. These include allegedly failing to disclose information in his green card application, including an internship with United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and alleged ties to Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD).

Khalil’s detention has been the focus of a witch hunt by the Trump administration, which has repeatedly posted inflammatory statements and edited images of him from the official White House social media accounts, with captions like “Shalom Mahmoud” and accusations of Hamas ties—claims for which no public evidence has been provided. “This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump declared earlier this year, vowing a crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism.

Khalil, who has been detained since March 8, has never been accused or convicted of any crime. “The harms I’ve suffered are wide-ranging,” Khalil wrote in a declaration filed with the court. “Instead of holding my wife’s hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone. I listened to her pain, trying to comfort her while 70 other men slept around me. When I heard my son’s first cries, I buried my face in my arms so no one would see me weep. The first time I saw my son in person was through a plate-glass window. The first time I held him was in an immigration courtroom, only after Noor traveled over ten hours with our newborn.”

The Trump administration appears particularly determined to keep Khalil in detention. He was the first high-profile arrest in their broader campaign against pro-Palestinian student activism and he quickly became one of the most publicized contemporary political prisoners. His release would be a major victory for the Palestine solidarity movement, particularly as other students like Mohsen Mahdawi and Rümeysa Öztürk have already been released.

For now, Khalil remains at the LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana, far from his wife and infant son. Protests around the country continue to demand his release.

Photo retrieved from Instagram.

---

The Worker is an entirely volunteer-run revolutionary newspaper free from and radically antagonistic to corporate influence. We rely on the support of our readers to sustain our editorial line in service of the working class and the reconstitution of its party, the Communist Party. Make a one-time or recurring donation to our newspaper today: