US lawyers fight govt plans to deport Palestinian student

Mahmoud Khalil will remain detained in Louisiana until at least next week but can finally speak to lawyers while they fight the Trump administration's plans to deport the Columbia University graduate student for his role in campus protests against Israel, a judge decided at a hearing on Wednesday.

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The brief hearing, which focused on thorny jurisdictional issues, drew hundreds of demonstrators to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan to denounce the Saturday arrest of Khalil, a permanent US resident who is married to an American citizen.

Khalil, 30, was not brought to the hearing from an immigration detention centre in Louisiana, where he has remained after a brief stop at a New Jersey lockup.

After Khalil’s Manhattan arrest, Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered on Monday that the 30-year-old not be deported while the court considers a legal challenge brought by his lawyers, who want Khalil returned to New York and released under supervision. For now Furman is letting Khalil remain in Louisiana.

During Wednesday’s hearing, attorney Brandon Waterman argued for the Justice Department that the venue for the deportation fight should be moved from New York City to Louisiana or New Jersey because those are the locations where Khalil has been held.

One of Khalil’s lawyers, Ramzi Kassem, told the judge that Khalil was “identified, targeted and detained” because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights and his protected speech.

He said Khalil has no criminal convictions, but “for some reason, is being detained.”

Kassem also told Furman that Khalil’s legal team hasn't been able to have a single attorney-client-protected phone call with him.