Government can’t hold Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil, federal judge rules

The federal judge presiding over Mahmoud Khalil‘s case ruled that the Trump administration, for now, cannot deport or detain the Columbia University activist based on a determination by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The judge’s order will not take effect until Friday, allowing the government time to appeal.

Rubio has cited an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil’s removal from the U.S., saying that he poses a national security risk.

Rubio had argued that the provision allows the secretary of state to “personally determine” whether Khalil should remain in the country.

Khalil was a Columbia University student who played an active role in protests over the war in Gaza on the Manhattan campus last year.

He was arrested by federal agents in March and has been held since, as he and his lawyers have challenged efforts to deport him.

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz’s Wednesday order bars the government from detaining Khalil based on Rubio’s determination.

It also bars the government from trying to remove him from the United States based on Rubio’s determination.

Khalil was a Columbia University student who played an active role in protests on the Manhattan campus over the war in Gaza.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security has alleged that Khalil has acted to “glorify and support terrorists.”

Khalil last week called the claims “grotesque and false.”