Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil say he was taken in retaliation for exercising free speech rights

(12 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 12 March 2025
1. Pan of courthouse exteriors
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ramzi Kassem, lawyer representing Mahmoud Khalil:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"As we tried to make clear in court today, what happened to Mahmoud Khalil is nothing short of extraordinary and shocking and outrageous. It should outrage anybody who believes that speech should be free in the United States of America."
3. Various of protesters gathered across the street from a Manhattan federal courthouse, chanting, waving flags and carrying signs
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ramzi Kassem, lawyer representing Mahmoud Khalil:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"It is, it is absolutely unprecedented. The, the grounds that are being cited by the government for purportedly claiming to revoke his green card and putting him in removal proceedings, this is a person who is a lawful permanent resident, this is a U.S. person. Those grounds are vague. They are rarely used. And, you know, essentially they are a form of punishment and retaliation for the exercise of free speech. We think it won’t fly in federal court. We think it won’t fly in immigration court. And it certainly should not fly in the court of public opinion."
5. Various of protesters gathered across the street from a Manhattan federal courthouse, chanting, waving flags and carrying signs
6. Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon outside courthouse
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Sarandon, actor:
“No matter where you stand on genocide, freedom of speech is an issue, is a right that we all have. And this is a turning point in the history and the freedom of this country.”
8. Wide of protesters
STORYLINE:
A government lawyer asked a federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday to move the legal fight over the detention of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil to New Jersey or Louisiana, two locations where he has been held as the Trump administration seeks to deport him over his participation in pro-Palestinian protests at the school.

Immigration enforcement agents arrested Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident who is married to an American citizen, in New York on Saturday. After initially being held in New Jersey, he was moved to an immigration detention center in Louisiana.

After Khalil’s arrest, Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered that the 30-year-old not be deported while the court considers a legal challenge brought by his lawyers, who are seeking to have Khalil returned to New York and released under supervision. They argue that he engaged in protected free speech and that the government is illegally retaliating against him over it.

During a brief hearing Wednesday, attorney Brandon Waterman argued on behalf of the Justice Department that the venue for the deportation fight be moved from New York City to Louisiana or New Jersey.

Furman, calling the legal issues “important and weighty,” asked the two sides to submit a joint letter on Friday describing when they propose to submit written arguments over the legal issues raised by Khalil’s detention.

Ramzi Kassem, representing Khalil’s interests, said the student’s lawyers have been unable to have even a single attorney-client-privileged conversation with Khalil since he was taken into custody.

Kassem told Furman 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.”

Kassem said lawyers for Khalil will file a rewritten lawsuit on Thursday.

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