Mahmoud Khalil Released Amid Backlash Against Trump’s Crackdown on Pro-Palestinian Student Protesters

Hadisur Rahman, JadeTimes Staff   

H. Rahman is a Jadetimes news reporter covering the USA

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Image Source: Annie Flanagan 

Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and prominent voice in the pro-Palestinian student movement, was released on bail Friday after spending more than three months in federal detention a detention that has become emblematic of President Trump’s second-term immigration crackdown targeting international student protesters.

Masked immigration officers arrested Khalil on a quiet suburban street in March, igniting widespread concern among civil rights advocates and academic communities. His arrest, followed by others in similar circumstances, marked a controversial escalation in the administration’s policy of detaining foreign students who voiced support for Palestinian rights.

Khalil missed his graduation and the birth of his first child while held in a Louisiana detention facility. His release comes as federal judges across the country have consistently ruled that noncitizens cannot be detained solely for their political speech a stance seen by many as a firm rebuke of the administration’s tactics.

“The unanimity of federal court decisions on this issue should send a clear message to the executive branch,” said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. “You cannot snatch people off the streets for peacefully protesting and imprison them indefinitely.”

The Department of Homeland Security, however, condemned the judge’s decision to grant Khalil bail, suggesting it undermined the 2024 election results and threatened national security. The Justice Department filed an appeal Friday evening.

Despite legal setbacks, the Trump administration has continued its broader agenda, expanding visa scrutiny and attempting to revoke institutions like Harvard University’s ability to host international students. These moves have raised alarms in academic and immigration circles, with critics calling them politically motivated attacks on constitutionally protected speech.

Marc Van Der Hout, Khalil’s attorney, described the campaign as a failed attempt to silence dissent. “There has been global outrage over the treatment of these students,” he said. “This is not just about Mahmoud it’s about the rights of all who speak up.”

Khalil remains in active deportation proceedings, along with several others who were arrested under similar circumstances. While freed from detention, they still face uncertain futures in the U.S.

Greg Chen, senior director at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, emphasized the dangerous precedent these detentions set. “This is not about national security,” Chen said. “It’s about targeting voices of dissent and the public is beginning to see through that.”

Upon his release, Khalil wasted no time returning to advocacy. Speaking from Louisiana, he expressed hope that one day the detention facility he left behind would become a museum highlighting what he called America’s unjust immigration practices.

“The hundreds of men I left behind shouldn’t be there,” he said. “The Trump administration is doing everything it can to dehumanize immigrants. We must keep fighting.”