The brief hearing, which focused on thorny jurisdictional issues, drew hundreds of demonstrators to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan to denounce the Saturday arrest of Khalil who authorities say has been one of the key anti-Israel protest leaders at Columbia ever since the Hamas terrorist massacre of more than 1200 Israeli citizens in October of 2023.
After Khalil's Manhattan arrest, Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered that the 30-year-old not to be deported while the court considers a legal challenge brought by his lawyers, who want Khalil returned to New York and released under supervision.
During Wednesday's hearing, attorney Brandon Waterman argued on behalf of the Justice Department that the venue for the deportation fight should be moved from New York City to Louisiana or New Jersey because those are the locations where Khalil has been held.
One of Khalil’s lawyers, Ramzi Kassem, told the judge that Khalil was “identified, targeted and detained” because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights and his protected speech. He said Khalil has no criminal convictions, but “for some reason, is being detained.”
President Donald Trump heralded Khalil’s arrest as the first “of many to come,” vowing on social media to deport students he described as engaging in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Khalil's case is “not about free speech.”
"This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with. No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card," Rubio said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the administration moved to deport him under a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that gives the secretary of state the power to deport a noncitizen on foreign policy grounds.
Some of the Columbia protests have grown violent with protesters taking over buildings and Jewish students fearing for their safety.
Columbia, along with several other universities that have allowed the protests have been warned by the Trump administration that they risk losing federal funding.
