A federal judge has lifted travel restrictions for Mahmoud Khalil, allowing the Palestinian activist to speak at rallies and other events across the U.S. as he fights his deportation case brought by the Trump administration.
Khalil, who was freed from a Louisiana immigration jail in June after missing the birth of his first child, had asked a federal magistrate judge to lift the restrictions that limited his travel to New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Louisiana and Michigan.
“He wants to travel for the very significant First Amendment reasons that are at the bottom of this case,” his lawyer, Alina Das, said during a virtual hearing Thursday. “He wants to speak to issues of public concern.”
An attorney for the government, Aniello DeSimone, opposed the move, arguing that Khalil “has not provided enough of a reason why he couldn’t attend these and other events telephonically.”
The magistrate judge, Michael Hammer, agreed Thursday to allow Khalil to travel, noting he is not considered a flight risk and had not violated any of his release conditions.
Hammer granted the government’s request that Khalil, a green card holder, alert U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about his travel plans ahead of time.
An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled last month that Khalil — a former graduate student at Columbia University in New York — could be deported for failing to disclose information on his green card application. His attorneys are currently challenging that decision.
The government has accused Khalil of leaving out details on his immigration paperwork about his past associations, including membership in a United Nations agency that works with Palestinians and his “continuing employment” at the British Embassy in Lebanon. Khalil has denied making misrepresentations and said he was not a member of the U.N. agency but instead an unpaid intern through Columbia. He also stated he stopped working at the British Embassy in Beirut in 2022.
Khalil, who was a prominent figure at protests against the war in Gaza at Columbia, was arrested by ICE agents on March 8, becoming the first campus activist swept up in President Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. Khalil is one of several international students who were detained due to their links to pro-Palestinian campus activism, which the Trump administration alleges is riddled with antisemitism — a charge the protesters deny.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin previously said in a statement to CBS News: “It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, take over buildings and deface property, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”
Khalil has denied advocating for violence or engaging in antisemitic speech during campus protests at the university, saying in court papers he is “committed to peaceful protest.”
