Judge Denies US Government’s Bid to Toss Case Over Columbia Student’s Arrest

The judge did agree to transfer the case.

Mahmoud Khalil at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York City on April 29, 2024. Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo

A federal judge on March 19 denied the U.S. government’s request to throw out a case concerning the arrest of a Columbia University student from Syria.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman wrote in a 33-page order that he was transferring the case brought by student Mahmoud Khalil to another jurisdiction, rather than dismissing it.

“That path is all the more appropriate in this case, as dismissal would mean vacatur of this Court’s order barring Khalil’s removal from the United States until his claims can be addressed, and thus might allow the Government to frustrate Khalil’s effort to obtain judicial review of his claims by removing him from the country before a court could rule,” the judge said.

The government has said that Khalil, who was involved in pro-Palestinian protests in the wake of the 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, sided with terrorists and poses a threat to U.S. national interests and foreign policy.

Khalil’s lawyers say the arrest and threat of deportation violate Khalil’s constitutional rights, including those guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Federal immigration officers arrested Khalil earlier in March outside his residence in New York City. They temporarily transferred him to New Jersey before moving him to a prison in Louisiana. U.S. officials have canceled his green card and are seeking to remove him from the United States.

Khalil filed a petition for redress in federal court in Manhattan.

Government lawyers asked the court to either dismiss the case or transfer it to Louisiana, since Khalil was detained in New Jersey when his petition was filed.

“Because this Court lacks jurisdiction and is not the proper forum for this habeas action, the Court should either dismiss this action without prejudice or transfer the petition forthwith,” they wrote in a filing.

Khalil’s attorneys said the case should be adjudicated in New York federal court, asserting exceptional circumstances such as that the government told Khalil’s wife that he would be held in New York.

If the judge were to transfer the case, it should be to New Jersey, they added.

Furman said that federal law required him to transfer the proceedings to New Jersey.

“The Court concludes that a straightforward application of well-established federal law mandates transfer of the case to the District of New Jersey because, under the immediate-custodian and district-of-confinement rules, it is the one and only district in which Khalil could have filed his Petition at the time this action commenced,” he wrote. “Congress has prescribed the district to which this case must be transferred, and it is New Jersey. The Court is no less bound by these laws to transfer to the District of New Jersey than it is bound by the immediate-custodian and district-of-confinement rules to decline jurisdiction.”

Although the case is exceptional and requires careful judicial review, the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that the confinement rules apply even in exceptional cases, the judge added later.

He is keeping in place his order barring the deportation of Khalil until a federal judge in New Jersey has a chance to issue an order.