Judge gives Trump administration 24 hours to provide evidence of Mahmoud Khalil's removability
An immigration judge has given lawyers representing the Department of Homeland Security a little over 24 hours to provide Mahmoud Khalil's legal team with evidence that he is removable from the U.S. under the allegations lobbed against him.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident with a green card, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at his Columbia University housing in New York last month.
Khalil, a leader of the encampment protests at Columbia last spring, was detained on March 8, then taken to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, before ending up in a Louisiana detention center, his attorneys said.
At an immigration hearing in Jena, Louisiana, on Tuesday, Judge Jamee Comans set another hearing for Friday to give Khalil's team time to review the evidence and respond to it.
Comans said she will then make a determination whether he is removable or order him to be released.
In a statement released several hours after the hearing, Khalil's lawyer, Marc Van Der Hout criticized the timeline, arguing the government hasn't produced "a single shred of evidence" to support its allegations.
"Yet the Immigration judge today stated she intends to rule Friday on the merits of this outlandish charge with no realistic opportunity for Mahmoud and his lawyers to contest this baseless charge," Van Der Hout said in a statement. "If this turns out to be what happens Friday, it would be an uncalled for rush to judgement that would completely deprive Mahmoud of any due process, which is a foundation of our legal system.”
The court hearing earlier Tuesday grew tense at times, with the judge at one point saying there were nearly 600 people waiting to attend the virtual hearing that was reserved for legal parties only, saying this was highly unusual.
Noting the public interest in the case, Van Der Hout asked the judge to consider making future hearings accessible to the public, but she refused and said she was considering making all future hearings "in-person only" so all of his lawyers would need to attend in person.
Khalil was seated wearing a blue jumpsuit. He only said a handful of words throughout the hearing. At one point he asked the judge if his wife, Noor Abdalla, could also be allowed to have access to the video feed.
"Your honor, I would appreciate if you could let my wife in," he asked.
When she was let in, Abdalla was shown on the big screen. Khalil turned to look at her and then returned his gaze to the front of the room.
Khalil's wife is due to give birth within "a couple of weeks," according to Van Der Hout.
During the last hearing, Khalil's lawyers were granted continuance to give additional time to review the allegations raised against him in the Notice to Appear filed by DHS.
Comans again grew agitated when Van Der Hout asked for continuance a second time and claimed lawyers representing DHS had not provided evidence to back up the allegations against his client.
"We have not received a single document from them," he said.
He urged the judge to allow him more time, saying "we can not plead" until they knew the evidence they had against Khalil.
But Comans denied his request and ordered Van Der Hout to enter Khalil's plea for over 12 allegations on the spot.
The allegations ranged from procedural, such as "You are a native of Syria and a citizen of Algeria," to accusations that he withheld information from DHS about his alleged membership in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group.
He was also asked to respond to the DHS claim that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had found Khalil's "presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."
Van Der Hout responded "deny" for each allegation.
Comans conveyed a sense of urgency to get these issues resolved, noting Khalil had already spent several weeks in detention. She told both parties she was "not going to keep him detained" while they argued over his removability.
The court room was packed with reporters and a handful of supporters. One of them was told she needed to take off her keffiyeh before she walked into the courtroom.
As the hearing was adjourned, Khalil turned back to wave and smile at the group of supporters and press that were trickling out of room.
He smiled and waved a peace sign at one of his supporters.
