Hundreds of people gathered outside a New York City courthouse to demand the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, whose arrest over the weekend has sparked widespread condemnation and raised concerns about a potential crackdown on free speech in the United States.
The protesters assembled on Wednesday outside Manhattan’s federal courthouse for the first formal hearing in Khalil’s case, as he faces possible deportation due to his activism. Chants of “Release Mahmoud Khalil now!” echoed through the crowd.
During the brief hearing, Khalil’s lawyer, Ramzi Kassem, revealed that his client had only been allowed one phone call with his legal team from the detention center in Louisiana where he is being held. However, Kassem noted that the call was abruptly cut short and was conducted on a government-monitored line.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ruled that Khalil and his lawyers should have two additional phone calls on Wednesday and Thursday, protected by attorney-client privilege, ensuring that the government cannot monitor their conversations. Furman had also temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation on Monday.
Khalil, a 29-year-old Columbia University graduate and permanent U.S. resident, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at his New York City residence over the weekend. ICE officials stated that they planned to revoke his green card at the request of the U.S. Department of State.
Khalil had been a prominent figure in last year’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University, where students called for an end to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. He served primarily as a spokesperson and negotiator during the protests.
As part of his reelection campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump had vowed to clamp down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations that erupted after Israel’s deadly war on Gaza in October 2023. He also pledged to deport foreign students involved in such protests. Upon taking office, Trump began issuing executive actions to fulfill these threats.
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump stated in a White House fact sheet earlier this year. He added, “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
Trump recently applauded Khalil’s arrest, calling it “the first of many to come.” He accused students nationwide of engaging in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity” that his administration “will not tolerate.”
Experts argue that Khalil’s detention reflects a broader attack on pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S. and raises concerns about freedom of expression and dissent under the Trump administration. “Objectively, what is really happening is an effort to silence all public expression of support for Palestinian human rights to placate right-wing supporters of Israel within the Republican Party,” said Nader Hashemi, a professor at Georgetown University, in an interview with Al Jazeera.
Legal Questions
The legal basis for Khalil’s detention has also come under scrutiny. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio could revoke Khalil’s green card if Rubio determined that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. conflicted with national security and foreign policy interests.
A government document cited by The Washington Post on Wednesday revealed that Rubio’s determination is the Trump administration’s sole justification for seeking Khalil’s deportation. Rubio, however, insisted that the case is not about free speech. “This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with,” he told reporters during a refueling stop at Shannon Airport in Ireland after a trip to Saudi Arabia.
Outside the courthouse, Kassem argued that the legal provision the administration is invoking is not meant to stifle dissent. “It is not intended to be used to silence pro-Palestinian speech or any other speech that the government doesn’t like,” he said.
Khalil’s legal team also requested that Furman order their client’s return from Louisiana to New York, citing his distance from his lawyers and his pregnant wife. Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey reported from New York that Khalil’s lawyers allege he is being targeted solely because of his activism in support of Palestinian rights and his calls to end the genocide in Gaza.
At the hearing, government lawyer Brandon Waterman indicated that they planned to challenge Furman’s authority to decide the case, arguing that Khalil’s petition should have been filed in Louisiana or New Jersey, where he was initially held after his arrest. Furman described the legal issues as “important and weighty” and instructed both sides to submit a joint letter by Friday outlining their proposed timeline for addressing the legal questions raised by Khalil’s detention.
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