A federal judge in New Jersey has retained the case of the Graduate of the University of Columbia, Mahmoud Khalil, rejecting the government’s request to transfer the case to Louisiana, where the Palestinian activist is detained after his arrest last month.
“The petitioner was in New Jersey on March 9 at 4:40 am and Congress has required that the petition must have been presented in New Jersey at the same time. That warned this court with jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the court is not defeated by the petitioner who was transferred to Louisiana,” Judge Michael Fabiarz wrote in an opinion of 67 pages on Tuesday.
The opinion, unless the Government appeals, would clarify the way for Fabiarz to decide the most nouns of Khalil’s continuous confinement.
Khalil, leader of the protests of the camp in Columbia La Spring last, was arrested on March 8 in his student apartment building in New York. He was taken to 26 Federal Square in Bajo Manhattan, then to an immigration detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, before finishing in a Louisian detention center, his lawyers said.
After their lawyers presented a petition for the immediate release of Khalil, a federal judge in New York last month transferred the case to New Jersey.
Khalil’s lawyers urged a federal judge to maintain their case of habeas in New Jersey to prevent the government from moving from Khalil of a “Kafka” detention center from one detention center to another.
“We are grateful that the court wisely understood that the government cannot try to manipulate the jurisdiction of the United States courts in a transparent attempt to protect its unconstitutional behavior, and frankly chilling,” said Baher Azmy, a lawyer for Khalil, in a statement on Tuesday. “We expect the next phase of this case, which is to get Mahmoud out of the arrest and the arms of his family, and then try the attempted deportation of Mahmoud and others is nothing more than unconstitutional reprisals for protected speech.”
New Jersey is also closer to Khalil’s wife, who is about to give birth.
“I am relieved by the Court’s decision today to maintain the ongoing case of my husband in New Jersey,” said his wife, Noor Abdalla, in a statement on Tuesday. “This is an important step to ensure the freedom of Mahmoud, but there is still much more to do. As the countdown to the birth of our son begins and I am getting closer to my expiration date, I will continue to advocate firmly for the freedom of Mahmoud and for his safe return home so he can be by my side to welcome our first child.”
Mahmoud Khalil talks to media members about the Rafah camp revolt at Columbia University during the continuous conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, in New York, on June 1, 2024.
Jeenah Moon/Reuters, file
During a Friday hearing on whether the case should remain in New Jersey, Azmy told the judge that there is a “forum purchases prohibition” to find a court that could sympathize with the government’s position.
Outside the court, Azmy said the government is simply trying to delay the award of the real legality of Khalil’s arrest.
A government lawyer, August Flentje, argued that “for jurisdictional certainty, the case belongs to Louisiana” because that is where Khalil is being stopped.
“The clearest route is that the case is heard in Louisiana,” Flentje said during the audience on Friday.
After deciding on the jurisdictional issue, the judge can now consider the substantive issue of whether Khalil’s arrest, a green card holder, was legal.
Khalil must appear before an immigration judge for a removal procedure on April 8.
It is among half a dozen international students who have supported the Palestinians to be arrested by the administration in recent weeks. No charges have been filed against any of them.
The administration has argued that the continuous presence of students in the country undermines US foreign policy and revoked their status. Student lawyers have argued that the administration is punishing them for legal activity.
