Mahmoud Khalil returns to New York after months in detention

Mahmoud Khalil walked through a nondescript door into a Newark, New Jersey, airport lobby Saturday, his wife to his left, a member of Congress to his right and a stroller in front of him. His fist was raised and he could not stop smiling.

Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident, had spent more than three months detained by the Trump administration, which said he had enabled the spread of antisemitism and had sought to deport him.

But his lawyers had denied the accusations of antisemitism and had protested his detention as unconstitutional retaliation for free speech. On Friday, a judge ordered him released on bail.

After spending the evening driving from Jena, Louisiana, to a Houston airport, Khalil returned to the East Coast, his plane landing shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday at Newark Liberty International Airport. He was expected to head to his home in New York City.

When he emerged at the Newark airport with his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., he was quickly surrounded by roughly 50 supporters, reporters, lawyers and relatives.

Khalil briefly addressed the crowd, saying he would immediately resume his outspoken work on behalf of Palestinian rights, speech he said that should be celebrated rather than punished. Asked about a message for the Trump administration, he said “just the fact that I am here sends a message.”

He said he was still trying to comprehend the feeling of being newly free. But at the same time, he said, even in detention he remained free in a sense, as he continued to campaign for Palestinian rights.

Upon his release from a Jena detention facility Friday, Khalil spoke on behalf of the other immigrants with whom he had been held, and he referred to them again Saturday, suggesting that a new line of advocacy calls to him now that he is back in the New York area.

He said that the men with whom he had been detained were “incredible,” and that being demonized by the Trump administration did not make them less human.

Ocasio-Cortez spoke Saturday after Khalil, welcoming him home as he stood behind her, holding flowers and a Palestinian flag, and beaming.

She said she would continue to support Khalil. “Everyone agrees that persecution based on political speech is wrong and is a violation of all of our First Amendment rights, not just Mahmoud’s,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

She added that the Trump administration was “waging a legal losing battle.”

“They are violating the law, and they know that they are violating a law, and they are trying to use these one-off examples to intimidate everyone else,” she said.

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department referred to its comment from Friday, which described the judge who released Khalil, Michael Farbiarz, as a “rogue judge.”

“The Trump administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil,” the statement said. “An immigration judge has already vindicated this position. We expect a higher court to do the same.”

Khalil was held for 104 days in the Louisiana detention facility, watching as other students targeted by the White House won favorable rulings and were released on bail. He was not present when Abdalla gave birth to their son in April, and he missed his Columbia graduation.

On Friday, his lawyers persuaded Farbiarz of U.S. District Court in Newark to release Khalil on bail, convincing him that there was reason to believe that the Trump administration was retaliating against Khalil for his role in campus demonstrations. The deportation case against Khalil continues, and the administration has appealed Farbiarz’s ruling.

If unsuccessful, Khalil will remain free as his immigration case proceeds.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.