Judge blocks deportation of pro-Palestinian Columbia graduate in shock move after Trump celebrates arrest of protest leader
A judge has stepped in to temporarily block the deportation of a pro-Palestine activist who led student protests at Columbia University.
President Donald Trump boasted about the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, warning likeminded activists it was ‘the first of many to come’ as he embarks on his mass deportation policy.
Khalil was detained by ICE officers on Saturday night – who said they’d been given an order to revoke his green card – in front of his pregnant wife.
But a federal judge Jesse Furman, from the Southern District of New York, poured cold water on Trump’s plan on Monday. Furman blocked the administration from deporting Khalil until at least the next court hearing on Wednesday.
The court order, seen by DailyMail.com, states: ‘To preserve the Court’s jurisdiction pending a ruling on the petition, Petitioner shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise.’
Furman was nominated to the Southern District by President Obama in 2011 and was confirmed in February 2012.
Khalil, a Palestinian who was born and raised in Syria, helped to lead protests against Israel at Columbia University last year. He also acted as a negotiator between students and university officials.
The protests were allowed to run rampant for two weeks. They were marked by violent assaults and instances of Jewish students being afraid to go to class.
Khalil (pictured) addresses the media on June 1, 2024, after a new encampment popped up on Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus
Mahmoud Khalil, who was the lead student negotiator for the pro-Palestinian encampment, was arrested by Department of Homeland Security agents on Saturday night is currently being held
Khalil’s student visa and green card were reportedly subject to a revocation order by the State Department, according to his lawyer (Pictured: Students protest the war in Gaza on Columbia University on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks)
‘On March 9, 2025, in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student. Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,’ the Department of Homeland Security said on X Sunday night.
Trump said the ICE agents who arrested Khalil did so with pride, describing him as ‘a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University.
‘We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.
‘Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again.
‘If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here.’
In a direct warning to universities and colleges across the nation, Trump said they are expected to ‘comply’ with this decision.
Khalil, who graduated in December, is in custody at an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, according to federal records.
Activists who are lobbying for Khalil’s release say he was confronted at 8:30pm in his apartment building by two plain clothes DHS agents, both of whom refused to identify themselves at first.
Khalil’s arrest comes as Trump announced he would be cutting $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia for its failure to contain the pro-Palestinian protests
Khalil was detained by ICE officers on Saturday night – who said they’d been given an order to revoke his green card – in front of his pregnant wife
Protests have since resumed at Columbia with the start of the new semester in September, though not at the same scale as last year
His wife, who is eight months pregnant and a US citizen, was allegedly there as well. The activists said she was threatened with arrest if she ‘remained by his side.’
In the United States, immigration judges are the only people with the authority to revoke permanent residency.
Grounds for revocation include lying on your green card application or committing certain types of felonies.
According to a legal filing, ‘ICE began efforts to transfer Mr. Khalil out of [New York] and to a Louisiana detention facility a thousand miles away, without providing him any access to his counsel.’
‘This seemingly retaliatory action is particularly troubling,’ the filing states.
Khalil’s arrest comes as Trump announced he would be cutting $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia for its failure to contain the pro-Palestinian protests.
