Mahmoud Khalil’s Attorney: “This Is the McCarthy Era All Over Again”
The US government is weaponizing antisemitism as an excuse to kidnap and deport even lawful permanent residents.
A federal judge in New Jersey will soon issue a ruling on where the deportation case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student who led the student encampment at Columbia University last year, can be litigated. On March 8, Khalil was abducted in New York by agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who told him his lawful permanent residency status had been “revoked.” He is now languishing in a notorious Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jail in Louisiana, more than 1,000 miles from his U.S. citizen wife who is over eight months pregnant, while U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz decides where his case will be heard. Khalil has been charged with no crime.
On March 9, Khalil was sent to New Jersey and then transported to Louisiana late that night into the next morning. On March 10, a New York federal judge blocked Khalil’s deportation while his legal challenge is pending.
On March 28, a hearing took place in New Jersey before Judge Farbiarz. Baher Azmy, legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and one of Khalil’s attorneys, told the judge that his client’s detention was “Kafkaesque.”
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