The judge presiding over a lawsuit in New Jersey challenging the detention of Mahmoud Khalil denied the government’s motion to dismiss his petition and said he has jurisdiction over the case, according to an order filed Tuesday.
Federal officials had argued that U.S. District Judge Michael Fabiarz, an appointee of President Joe Biden, did not have jurisdiction over the suit, known as a habeas corpus petition, and moved to have it dismissed.
Fabiarz said he has jurisdiction over the matter because Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident and prominent pro-Palestinian activist who faces a deportation order because of his activism at Columbia University, was in New Jersey when the petition was filed on his behalf in New York.
The petition claims Khalil’s detention violates his due process and First Amendment rights.
“The Petitioner was in custody in New Jersey as of March 9 at 4:40am,” Fabiarz’s order says. “And under a federal statute, the Petition, though filed in New York, must be treated as having been filed in New Jersey on March 9 at 4:40am. Therefore, this Court has jurisdiction.”
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Khalil’s attorneys celebrated the decision, saying in a statement Tuesday that it “sends a strong message to other courts around the country facing government attempts to shop for favorable jurisdictions by moving people detained on unconstitutional immigration charges around and making it difficult or impossible for their lawyers to know where to seek their immediate release.”
During a hearing last week, August Flentje, acting director of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said that Khalil was in New Jersey for only a few hours and that the “safest way to go about this” was to move the case to Louisiana.
Khalil has been held at a Louisiana detention center since shortly he was arrested March 8, when immigration authorities took him into custody over allegations that he led activities “aligned to Hamas,” which the United States has designated a terrorist organization.
Khalil has not been charged with committing any crime, and an attorney of his has said there is no evidence he has provided any kind of support to a terrorist organization.
Administration officials cited a rarely used provision in immigration law that says the secretary of state has the authority to deport someone if the person is determined to have "serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
Attorneys for the Justice Department later claimed that Khalil, a native of Syria and citizen of Algeria who entered the United States on a student visa in December 2022 and became a lawful permanent resident two years later, did not disclose that he was part of Columbia University Apartheid Divest or a political officer for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
In a filing, the department described the alleged misrepresentations as additional grounds for Khalil's deportation.
Baher Azmy, an attorney for Khalil, described the allegations as "silly" and said they "primarily show that the government must know the supposed ‘foreign policy’ grounds for Mahmoud’s removal are absurd and unconstitutional.”
The new claims “cannot change the obvious fact the government has admitted — he is being punished in the most autocratic way for his constitutionally protected speech,” Azmy said.
A federal judge in New York who initially reviewed Khalil's petition before it was moved to New Jersey said it raises "serious" allegations that warrant careful review and barred Khalil's deportation while the proceedings are ongoing.
