The judge awards Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team more time to review his Immigration case During a hearing Friday in Louisiana.
Khalil, a 30-year-old green card holder who married a U.S. citizen, was arrested by immigration and customs law enforcement officers on March 8. Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, Although he was not charged with a crime.
The judge at Jena Lasalle Immigration Court said she thought Khalil was “worth more time” to prepare, then prepared before pleading and postponed further litigation until April 8.
Attorneys representing the Department of Homeland Security initially opposed the matter, believing that Khalil was “at the government’s expense.” But Khalil’s lawyer told the judge: “This is a serious charge and we need time to review it.”
Video show arrests Colombian anti-Israel leader Mahmoud Khalil
Mahmoud Khalil allegedly played an important role in Columbia’s protests against Israel. (Ted Shaffrey/AP)
Throughout the hearing, Harrier looked calm, which unfolded in a small, windowless court. He spoke relatively quietly in his response to the judge, seemingly relaxed. The judge asked him the language he knew best, he spoke English and Arabic, and when she asked them if they could do it in English, he said yes.
Khalil played an important role in Colombia’s anti-Israel protests.
In a letter posted by a lawyer on Tuesday Khalil describes his arrest As a “instruction against Palestinian racism.” He also accused the Columbian government, including former university president Minouche Shafik, who was criticized for failing to adequately respond to allegations of anti-Semitic acts by campus activists before she eventually resigned.
“My unfair detention demonstrates anti-Palestinian racism, which the Biden and Trump administrations have shown over the past 16 months as the United States continues to provide Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevents international intervention,” Khalil wrote. “For decades, anti-Palestinian racism has promoted efforts to expand American law and practices that are accustomed to violently suppressing Palestinians, Arab Americans and other communities. That’s why I’m targeting.”
Colombian student claims to be arrested by Ice “hate America”
Mahmoud Khalil told his wife Amy to call his attorney Amy when he was arrested. (Mahmoud Khalil family)
In one of Khalil’s first legal victory, the judge ordered his deportation case to be heard Wednesday in New Jersey, not Louisiana. The judge enumerated a law requiring lawyers in the case to file a lawsuit first to challenge the same jurisdiction in his detention.
The Trump administration has previously said bed bugs had occurred in New Jersey detention centers near Harrier’s arrest, causing them to have him transported to Louisiana.
Khalil held a hearing on Friday, March 21, in LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana. (Olivianna Calmes/Fox News)
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His wife, Noor Abdalla, said in a statement issued by the American Civil Liberties Union earlier this week: “His illegal and unjust detention is unbearable.
Alec Schemmel of Fox News contributed to the report.
