Yena, Louisiana (AP) — A Louisiana immigration judge said later this week the government will decide whether Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil can continue to detain. His role in the pro-Palestinian campus protests.
During Tuesday’s hearing in Louisiana, Judge Jamie Commans gave the federal government until Wednesday to take over evidence against Halil, a 30-year-old legal US resident who was detained in a remote Louisiana detention facility last month.
“I want to see the evidence,” Commans said. If the government cannot create justifications to eliminate Khalil, she added:
Marc van der Hout, a California-based lawyer for Khalil, featured in the video conference, told the judge that he had “not received a single document” in response to requests for “evidence and claims” in the case. “We cannot plea until we know what the specific allegations are,” van der Hout said.
Wore a navy blue t-shirt over a beige sweatshirt, Halil spoke briefly to ask the judge that he would allow his wife to virtually follow the progress. The judge was obliged to note that more than 600 people requested access to the hearing through the virtual lobby. “This is very unusual,” Commans said.
On March 8th, Halil became the first with a The number of born and born students is increasing It targeted the Trump administration’s deportation against Israel and its participation in the war in Gaza.
After being detained by federal immigration authorities in the lobby of his Manhattan apartment, Halil flew overnight to the Immigration Detention Center in Jena, Louisiana, thousands of miles from his lawyer and wife.
As Halil’s immigration case unfolded in Louisiana, his lawyers also challenged him to detain and potential deportation before a federal judge in New Jersey. That judge last week It was rejected The Trump administration’s efforts to transfer jurisdiction in the legal battle to Louisiana have yet to control his petition for release.
The federal government has sought to deport Halil and other students under a rarely used law that allows the Secretary of State to grant the expulsion of foreign policy “potentially reverse the impact of foreign policy that is significant and disadvantageous to the United States.”
They argue without providing evidence that Halil’s prominent role in anti-Israel protests amounted to support Hamas, the militant group that controlled Gaza in October 2023 and attacked Israel.
Halil served as a negotiator for Colombian student protesters, but not among those arrested and has not been charged with a crime. He repeatedly denied anti-Semitism claims.
In a letter dictated from the prison last month, Halil said his detention was “a direct result of my exercise of my right to free speech, as I advocated for free Palestine and defended the end of Gaza’s genocide.”
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