Judge blocks anti-Israel Columbia agitator from deportation

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that anti-Israel agitator is not to be deported “unless and until the Court orders otherwise,” on Monday. 

Khalil, who led anti-Israel protests and encampments on Columbia University’s campus, was taken into custody on the Upper West Side in New York City on Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that he was a former Columbia graduate student who “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” 

The judge ordered a hearing for Wednesday. This after Khalil’s lawyer argued their client had been detained illegally and should be released.

Politicians have also spoken out in defense of Khalil. “Squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., criticized his arrest, calling the incident an “egregious violation of constitutional rights.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., expressed concern for anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by ICE agents on Mar. 8. (Getty Images / Pool)

In a post published to Instagram on Sunday, Tlaib wrote that it was “dangerous to allow our government to target people based on political speech,” and warned that “more targeting of students like this will happen.”

“Everyone should be concerned about this,” Tlaib said in the Instagram video.

The Michigan congresswoman also addressed the reports about Khalil having a student visa revoked after his lawyer said he was a legal permanent resident.

“They were revoking his student visa, well, guess what? He doesn’t have a student visa,” Tlaib claimed. “He’s a green card holder. Legal permanent resident.”

“Now, again, they proceed to engage the attorney… he or she asked for a warrant, they hung up on them,” she continued. “If you believe in constitutional rights, you understand that they’re targeting this person. And everyone knows he has been very vocal against the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and they’re targeting him and refusing him constitutional rights. Who’s next?”

In an X post on Monday, New York State Attorney General Letitia James echoed Tlaib’s concerns.

FILE – Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is on the Columbia University campus in New York at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on April 29, 2024.  (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, file)

“I am extremely concerned about the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, an advocate and legal permanent resident of Palestinian descent,” James’s post read. “My office is monitoring the situation, and we are in contact with his attorney.”

Khalil’s attorney, Amy E. Greer, released a statement claiming that her client was “wrongfully arrested.”

“Last night ICE agents wrongfully arrested Mahmoud Khalil, claiming his student visa was revoked – even though Mahmoud is legal permanent resident (green card) and not in the U.S. on a student visa,” Greer’s Sunday statement read. “Confronted with that fact, the ICE agents detained him anyway.”

however, said that Khalil’s apprehension was “the first arrest of many to come” in a recent social media post.

“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,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. 

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and union activists discuss free speech on college campuses, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“Many are not students, they are paid agitators,” he added. “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Tlaib’s office for additional comment.

According to ICE, Khalil is being held at the Lasalle Detention facility in Louisiana.

Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias contributed to this report.