DOJ Pushes to Maintain Detention of Anti-Israel Activist Mahmoud Khalil
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking to keep anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil detained in an immigration center in Louisiana, arguing that courts lack authority to interfere with executive decisions on noncitizen detention. DOJ attorneys emphasized Congress authorized the detention of aliens, and the Trump administration cannot transfer Khalil due to facility overcrowding. Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was arrested over his anti-Israel activism, which the government claims violates U.S. foreign and foreign policy interests. The case has sparked debate over free speech rights and immigration law enforcement.
DOJ attorneys asked a federal judge on Tuesday to reject Khalil’s request for authorities to release him or transfer him from a Louisiana immigration detention center to one in New Jersey. They argued that the courts do not have the authority to intervene with the executive branch’s decision to detain a noncitizen who is in removal proceedings. ‘Congress authorized detention of aliens and gave the Executive significant discretion in that regard,’ they wrote.
The attorneys also cited an ICE official’s affidavit, which revealed that the ICE facility in Elizabeth had 355 detainees, meaning it was over capacity by 51 people. ‘ICE retains discretion to detain Khalil where it so chooses,’ they stated. ‘Additionally, factual considerations counsel against transferring Khalil to Elizabeth. Simply, the facility is over capacity.’
Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was arrested in March outside his apartment at Columbia University. An immigration judge deemed him removable based on a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that said his anti-Israel activism on campus ran counter to the United States’s foreign policy interests. Rubio cited a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to justify his finding.
Khalil’s case has garnered enormous attention from First Amendment advocates, who have argued the government is chilling free speech by revoking the green card of a noncitizen who outspokenly and aggressively opposes the Israeli government amid its offensive in the Gaza Strip and its escalating conflict with Iran.
Judge Michael Farbiarz, a Biden appointee, denied Khalil’s initial request to release him from detention while he continues to fight his removal from the country in federal court. Farbiarz agreed with Khalil and his supporters that Rubio’s justification for revoking Khalil’s green card was likely unconstitutional. However, the judge noted that the Trump administration also cited a second reason for Khalil’s removal that has not been adjudicated: that Khalil filed an incomplete green card application.
The Trump administration alleged that in addition to Khalil’s advocacy amounting to foreign policy defiance and antisemitism, Khalil’s allegedly fraudulent application was grounds for his removal. Khalil, who was born in Syria but has Algerian citizenship, left off the government application form that he was a member of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest, and he failed to disclose other places he worked, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in 2023, according to the DHS.
The DHS alleged that Khalil ‘procured his legal status through ‘fraud or by willfully misrepresenting a material fact,’’ in violation of immigration laws.