Court Finds Trump’s Use of Obscure Immigration Law Provision to Detain Mahmoud Khalil Likely Unconstitutional
Court requests additional information before final ruling on preliminary injunction
NEW YORK, NY – A federal court in New Jersey issued an opinion ruling that the foreign policy grounds on which Mahmoud Khalil was detained are likely unconstitutional. The court held that Khalil is likely to succeed on the merits of his unconstitutional vagueness argument. The court asked for additional information in order to rule further on his outstanding request for release from detention.
Judge Michael E. Farbiarz noted that the foreign policy charges in Mahmoud’s case are “unprecedented” and likely unconstitutional, stating: “the issue now before the Court has been this: does the Constitution allow the Secretary of State to use Section 1227, as applied through the determination, to try to remove the Petitioner from the United States? The Court’s answer: likely not.”
In response to the opinion, Mr. Khalil’s legal team vowed to fight on, stating: “The district court held what we already knew: Secretary Rubio's weaponization of immigration law to punish Mahmoud and others like him is likely unconstitutional. We will work as quickly as possible to provide the court the additional information it requested supporting our effort to free Mahmoud or otherwise return him to his wife and newborn son. Every day Mahmoud spends languishing in an ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, is an affront to justice, and we won't stop working until he is free.”
The legal team awaits a full and final ruling on the preliminary injunction motion, in addition to Mr. Khalil’s pending motions for release on bail and for him to be returned to New Jersey.
In a broader warning, the judge wrote, “If Section 1227 can apply, here, to the Petitioner, then other, similar statutes can also one day be made to apply. Not just in the removal context, as to foreign nationals. But also in the criminal context, as to everyone.”
On March 8, the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in direct retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights at Columbia University. Shortly after, DHS transferred him 1,400 miles away to a Louisiana detention facility — ripping him away from his wife and legal counsel. Since being unlawfully detained, Mr. Khalil has been forced to miss the birth of his first child and other irreplaceable moments in his family's life.
Mr. Khalil is represented by Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional Rights, CLEAR, Van Der Hout LLP, Washington Square Legal Services, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Թֱ of New Jersey, and the Թֱ.