{"id":53916,"date":"2025-06-20T20:12:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T04:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=53916"},"modified":"2025-06-20T20:12:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T04:12:01","slug":"federal-judge-orders-release-of-palestine-defender-mahmoud-khalil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/20\/federal-judge-orders-release-of-palestine-defender-mahmoud-khalil\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge Orders Release of Palestine Defender Mahmoud Khalil"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge in New Jersey on Friday ordered the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident and former Columbia University graduate student arrested<\/a> in March and marked for deportation amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestine activists.<\/p>\n

Politico <\/em>reported<\/a> that U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, announced his decision in response to a request from Khalil’s legal team to release him on bail or transfer him from Louisiana, where he is being jailed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to New Jersey so he can be closer to his wife and newborn son, whose birth he missed while in detention.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration ignored a federal judge’s March order<\/a> for Khalil’s case to be moved to New Jersey. In April, an immigration judge ruled<\/a> that Khalil can be deported.<\/p>\n

Farbiarz said Friday that he determined that Khalil poses no flight risk and called the Trump administration’s effort to continue jailing him “highly, highly unusual.”<\/p>\n

“After more than three months, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” Noor Abdalla, Khalil’s wife, said in response to Friday’s decision.<\/p>\n

“We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians,” Abdalla added. “But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family, and the community that has supported us since the day he was unjustly taken for speaking out for Palestinian freedom.”<\/p>\n

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As we celebrate the ruling ordering Mahmoud Khalil\u2019s release on bail, we call on the Trump administration to immediately comply with this order.https:\/\/t.co\/h0KYd4nYPk<\/a><\/p>\n

— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) June 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n