A U.S. district court judge issued an order on a new argument that Trump administration attorneys made about a prominent immigration/national security case on Friday, following a Wednesday hearing in which he initially ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to release anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil by this morning.
Readers might recall that in May, Trump froze foreign student visas in the name of national security, which came in the wake of Democrats making Columbia student agitator and green card holder Khalil their latest cause célèbre, as my colleague Ward Clark wrote at the time.
There were hints from the outset that the Trump administration might have some cards up its sleeve in this case, also back in March. Bonchie wrote that prosecutors might have pulled off an “end-around a Barack Obama-appointed judge,” by moving the man from NY to Louisiana, putting “Khalil’s deportation… very much back on the table.”
READ MORE: Report: Trump Admin Freezes All Student Visas to Bolster Security Checks on Foreign Students
While we don’t have a final answer yet on that question, Friday brought some clarity about whether ICE could keep the man under lock and key. The judge gave Team Trump until 1:30 p.m. Eastern on Friday to respond to Khalil’s attorneys “submitting a filing asking the judge to explicitly order his release.” That isn’t happening, as the judge has agreed with the administration’s new argument on holding him:
A federal judge on Friday determined that Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian activist from Columbia University, will remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention after the federal government pivoted its legal strategy.
The Trump administration argued Friday it could detain Khalil, a green-card holder, under the justification he kept some of his prior work off his application for permanent residency.
…
“Khalil is now detained based on that other charge of removability,” the government argued Friday. “Detaining Khalil based on that other ground of removal is lawful.”
As mentioned earlier, on Wednesday, District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled that despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s argument that the activist poses “a threat to U.S. foreign policy,” he could not be detained. But the judge added that the U.S. could make another argument on detaining Khalil.
And that’s what they did, stating on Friday that “[he] is now detained based on that other charge of removability,” and “[d]etaining Khalil based on that other ground of removal is lawful.”
The judge went with it in Friday’s decision, leaning into what he wrote on Wednesday–that the government can remove the foreign student for allegedly failing to disclose prior activities when submitting his application to remain in the country.
“To be sure, it might be argued that the Petitioner would be detained anyway,” Judge Farbiarz wrote. “After all, as noted above, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to remove the Petitioner based not only on the Secretary of State’s determination — but also on a second basis, the Petitioner’s alleged failure to accurately complete his lawful-permanent-resident application.”
This is a developing story. RedState will provide more information as updates warrant them.
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