A Palestinian activist who participated in protests against Israel has been freed from federal immigration detention after 104 days.
, who became a symbol of 鈥檚 clampdown on campus protests, left a federal facility in Louisiana on Friday. The former Columbia University graduate student is expected to head to New York to reunite with his U.S. citizen wife and , born while Khalil was detained.
Here鈥檚 a look at what has happened so far in Khalil鈥檚 legal battle:
The arrest
Federal immigration agents detained Khalil on March 8, the first arrest under Trump鈥檚 crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel鈥檚 devastating .
Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, was then taken to an immigration detention center in Jena, a remote part of Louisiana thousands of miles from his attorneys and his wife.
The 30-year-old international affairs student had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn to protest the war.
The university brought police in to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil was not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn鈥檛 among those arrested in connection with the demonstrations.
But images of his maskless face at protests, along with his willingness to share his name with reporters, made him an object of scorn among those who saw the protesters and their demands as antisemitic.
The legal fight
Khalil wasn鈥檛 accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia.
However, the government has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the U.S. for expressing views the administration considers to be antisemitic and 鈥減ro-Hamas,鈥 referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Khalil鈥檚 lawyers the legality of his detention, arguing that the Trump administration was trying to deport him for an activity protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified Khalil鈥檚 deportation by citing a rarely used statute that gives him power to deport those who pose 鈥減otentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.鈥
The initial ruling
Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans ruled in April that the government鈥檚 contention was enough to satisfy requirements for Khalil's deportation.
Comans said the government had 鈥渆stablished by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable.鈥
Federal judges in New York and New Jersey had previously ordered the U.S. government not to deport Khalil while his case played out in court.
Khalil remained detained for several weeks, with his lawyers arguing that he was being prevented from exercising his free speech and due process rights despite no obvious reason for his continued detention.
Release granted
Khalil was released after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be 鈥渉ighly, highly unusual鈥 for the government to continue detaining a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn鈥檛 been accused of any violence.
鈥淧etitioner is not a flight risk, and the evidence presented is that he is not a danger to the community,鈥 he said. 鈥淧eriod, full stop.鈥
During an hourlong hearing conducted by phone, the New Jersey-based judge said the government had 鈥渃learly not met鈥 the standards for detention.
Speaking Friday outside the detention facility, Khalil said, 鈥淛ustice prevailed, but it鈥檚 very long overdue. This shouldn鈥檛 have taken three months.鈥
Legal fight continues
The government filed notice Friday evening that it鈥檚 appealing Khalil鈥檚 release.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a post on the social platform X that the same day Farbiarz ordered Khalil鈥檚 release, an immigration judge in Louisiana denied Khalil bond and 鈥渙rdered him removed.鈥 That decision was made by Comans, who is in a court in the same detention facility from which Khalil was released.
鈥淎n immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Mr. Khalil should be released or detained,鈥 the post said.
Farbiarz ruled that the government can鈥檛 deport Khalil that his presence could undermine foreign policy. But he gave the administration leeway to pursue a potential deportation that Khalil lied on his green card application, an accusation Khalil disputes.
Khalil had to surrender his passport and can鈥檛 travel internationally, but he will get his green card back and be given official documents permitting limited travel within the U.S., including New York and Michigan to visit family, New Jersey and Louisiana for court appearances and Washington to lobby Congress.
Khalil said Friday that no one should be detained for protesting Israel鈥檚 war in Gaza. He said his time in the Jena, Louisiana, detention facility had shown him 鈥渁 different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice.鈥 In a statement after the judge鈥檚 ruling, Khalil鈥檚 wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said she could finally 鈥渂reathe a sigh of relief鈥 after her husband鈥檚 three months in detention.
The judge鈥檚 decision came after several other scholars targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another former Palestinian student at Columbia, ; a Tufts University student, ; and a Georgetown University scholar, .
