Columbia Protester Mahmoud Khalil Released on Bail
The Facts
- Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate held at a Louisiana immigration detention center since March for protesting Israel's war in Gaza, was released on bail on Friday after a New Jersey judge ruled his detention "highly unusual" and ordered that he be freed.
- In his order, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled that Khalil, a green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, noting the circumstances of his detention suggested that their purpose was to "punish the petitioner" in an unconstitutional manner.
- Khalil was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the grounds that his activities in the U.S. were detrimental to the foreign policy interests of the nation and that he omitted work done with Palestinian refugees on his permanent residency application.
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The Spin
Pro-Trump narrative
Judge Farbiarz, an Obama appointee in a liberal jurisdiction, has no grounds whatsoever to intercede on behalf of a foreign national who has helped foment antisemitism on campus here in the U.S. It is a privilege, not a right, to be a student here. An unelected judge has no right to frustrate the administration's push to clean up the immigration system and restore sanity to higher education.
Anti-Trump narrative
The detention of Mahmoud Khalil was politically motivated, and he will finally be released from immigration detention. The harassment of international students by the Trump administration is unconstitutional and goes against American values by punishing free speech. This disturbing totalitarian turn on the part of Trump must be resisted, and the American way must be upheld on the left and right.
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