A federal judge decided on Wednesday that the Trump government cannot use the US foreign policy interest argument to justify the detention of the Columbia University student and pro-passion activist Mahmoud Khalil, but said his order would not come into force until Friday.
Khalil was arrested on March 8 after the State Department revoked its Green Card under a poorly used provision of the US Immigration Law, which grants the US Secretary of State the power to request the deportation of any foreigner whose presence in the country is considered adverse to the interests of US foreign policy.
Since then, he has been kept in detention by immigration in Louisiana.
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Khalil was the first foreign student known to be arrested as part of Trump’s attempt to deport participants in pro-Palestinian protests who swept US university campuses after the Hamas attack to Israel on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent Israeli military attack.
