NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 18: Pro-Palestine demonstrators march as they rally for Gaza and Mahmoud Khalil on March 18, 2025 in New York City. Israeli forces carried out renewed airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, killing over 400 people, according to Gaza officials. The attacks broke a temporary ceasefire with Hamas, heightening fears of a return to full-scale conflict. (Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)
The leader of pro-Palestine protests on Columbia University’s campus had his legal fight to stay in the country transferred to New Jersey federal court after a federal judge in New York said Wednesday he doesn’t have jurisdiction over the case.
Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident of the United States who was arrested by federal immigration agents on March 8 in New York City and now faces deportation, had filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus — that’s a challenge to the constitutionality of his detention — in New York federal court. Khalil’s petition was challenged by the federal government, which asked the judge overseeing the case to dismiss it or move the case to Louisiana, where Khalil is currently detained.
In his Wednesday decision, U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman declined to hear the merits of Kahlil’s case but rejected the government’s push to move it to Louisiana. Furman said he is transferring the case to New Jersey because of the “undisputed fact” that Khalil was in New Jersey when he filed his petition.
Calling Khalil’s case “exceptional,” Furman said the law nonetheless requires a different judge to hear it.
“Put simply, the law precludes this court from reaching the merits of Khalil’s claims, as serious and important as they may be, and it mandates that the court allow a tribunal with jurisdiction to take the matter up from here,” Furman wrote in his 33-page decision.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We are ready to fight just as hard for Mr. Khalil in the district of New Jersey. He was taken by plainclothes federal agents, transferred in the middle of the night across state lines, and has been detained for over a week now, all because of his advocacy for Palestinian freedom. We will not stop working until Mr. Khalil is home with his wife,” said Amy Greer, an attorney for Khalil.
Khalil, who was born in Syria, came to the United States in December 2022 to attend Columbia University’s School of International Public Affairs and has been a lawful permanent resident since 2024. He’s also the outspoken leader of student protests held at Columbia since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He was suspended last spring, but the university reversed the decision within a day.
President Donald Trump said during his campaign to retake the White House that he’d cancel the visas of students who engage in pro-Palestine protests. He signed an executive order shortly after taking office that vowed to deport students with visas who support Hamas or promote antisemitism through anti-Israel protests.
The president has warned that Khalil’s detention and potential deportation would be the “first of many to come” as his administration continues cracking down on campus protestors. Trump administration officials have argued that Khalil’s green card is no longer valid because his continued presence in the country “would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
“No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card, by the way,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.
Furman’s decision describes the numerous times Khalil was transferred in the roughly 30 hours following his arrest at 8:30 p.m. on March 8. He was first taken by immigration agents to an immigration field office in Manhattan, then to the Elizabeth Detention Center in the early hours of March 9. Hours later, he was taken on a flight to Dallas, then on another flight to Louisiana, where he arrived on March 10 at 1:30 a.m. and where he remains today in detention.
Khalil’s attorneys had argued that moving him that frequently was an effort to make it difficult for his lawyers to file a petition to free him, but Furman found that this is typical for many detainees.
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