The Trump administration conceded on Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents did not have a warrant when they detained Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil in March, acknowledging it was a “warrantless arrest.”
Khalil’s attorneys are asking an immigration judge in Louisiana, where their client has been detained by ICE for weeks, to terminate his deportation case based on the fact that he was arrested without a warrant.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, admitted in a court filing that immigration agents typically need warrants before arresting individuals. But it argued that Khalil was arrested without a warrant due to “exigent circumstances,” alleging that agents believed the Columbia activist would “escape before they could obtain a warrant.”
Khalil’s lawyers denied that he had any plans to flee, saying in their own court filing that their client “fully complied” with the ICE agents’ demands.
“Tellingly, no agent present at the scene has ever submitted sworn or unsworn testimony that Mr. Khalil attempted to flee or otherwise posed a flight risk,” Khalil’s lawyers wrote in a court document.
A vocal member of the protests at Columbia University last year over the war in Gaza, Khalil is a Syrian-born immigrant with legal U.S. permanent residency — also known as a green card. He was arrested in early March by ICE, outside of his New York City apartment, where he lived with his U.S. citizen wife, who was pregnant at the time.
Khalil was not able to witness the birth of his son earlier this week, after ICE denied a request for him to be temporarily released.
One of several foreign-born students arrested by ICE in recent months, Khalil has become one of the most high-profile faces of the Trump administration’s efforts to go after those on college campuses who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
The Trump administration has argued its efforts are designed to curb anti-semitism and pro-Hamas views at universities, but civil rights groups have accused the government of punishing students purely for their political beliefs, in violation of the First Amendment.
While it has not accused Khalil of any criminal wrongdoing, the Trump administration has cited two legal grounds to argue the Columbia University activist should nonetheless be deported from the U.S.
The administration has accused Khalil of committing immigration fraud by withholding certain information on his green card application and argued he’s also deportable due to a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that his presence and activities pose “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the U.S. Khalil’s lawyers have refuted both accusations.
Earlier this month, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled the administration could continue its bid to deport Khalil, saying she could not second-guess Rubio’s determination, which cites a rarely used law. She held in abeyance the immigration fraud accusation.
This week, Khalil formally submitted an application in immigration court to request asylum and withholding of removal, another legal protection from deportation, according to his attorneys.
That immigration court case in Louisiana is progressing alongside a lawsuit in federal district court in New Jersey challenging the legality of Khalil’s detention. Lawyers in that case have asked the federal judge overseeing it to order Khalil’s release, revoke Rubio’s determination and bar the government from targeting noncitizens “who engage in constitutionally protected expressive activity in the United States in support of Palestinian rights or critical of Israel.”
