BREAKING: Mahmoud Khalil Speaks With Attorneys for First Time Since Detention
Khalil will likely stay at notorious ICE facility in Louisiana until at least March 17.
Mahmoud Khalil was finally able to speak with his legal team after a judge in the Southern District of New York ordered the Department of Homeland Security to allow a call of at least an hour. Prior to that, the Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestine organizer had no meaningful contact with his lawyers since Department of Homeland Security agents detained him and told him his green card had been revoked on Saturday night. Attorneys representing Khalil declined to give details of Wednesday night’s call, with another planned for Thursday.
Following his detention on Saturday, Khalil—who was a lead negotiator on behalf of the April 2024 Gaza encampments at Columbia University—was handcuffed and forced into an unmarked vehicle. After being initially taken to the ICE’s New York City Field Office, he was taken to an ICE detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He was then taken to the facility where he remains today—the Central Louisiana Detention Facility. Prior to tonight’s phone call, Khalil was unable to call his lawyers except for a brief interrupted call on March 10, when he called his lawyer and confirmed he was in Louisiana.
ICE policy states that detainees “shall always be granted access within 24 hours” of their request to call a legal representative, and that they “shall not restrict” the number or duration of such calls. But Khalil’s legal team, consisting of 19 attorneys from several prominent civil and immigrant rights groups, said their next phone call with Khalil had been scheduled for March 20—12 days after his arrest.
Access to Khalil was limited, his legal team argued, in part because of the decision to move him from a New Jersey Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility to a notorious detention center in Louisiana. According to DHS’s “Notice to Appear,” which is dated March 9, the day after his detention, he was to be deported based on a rarely used provision of federal immigration law allowing the Secretary of State to remove individuals whose presence it believes “have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
Following the outcry over his detention—which is broadly seen as an attack on First Amendment rights and on the rights of legal permanent residents—Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Trump administration planned to revoke green cards, not only visas, of so-called “Hamas supporters” “so they can be deported.” A DHS spokesperson added that Khalil had been detained with an administrative warrant for alleged “activities aligned to Hamas.”
An unnamed White House official told The Free Press that “the allegation here is not that he was breaking the law,” and Axios reported that according to the State Department, Khalil’s arrest was the first of many to come as it launched its AI-assisted “Catch and Revoke” initiative.
“This is not about free speech,” Rubio told reporters on Wednesday, “This is about people who don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with.”
On Monday evening, a federal judge, Jesse Furman, temporarily blocked the attempted deportation. Khalil’s team’s priority now is returning him to either New York or New Jersey—more favorable districts where he’d have easier access to his attorneys and family, including his wife Noor Abdalla, who is eight months pregnant. In a Wednesday order, Judge Furman set a schedule for both parties to file legal arguments about where the petition should be heard and where he should be held. In the meantime, according to court filings, it appears he will stay in the Louisiana ICE facility until at least March 17, barring some other development.
According to his legal team, the government argued that because Khalil was being held in the New Jersey ICE facility at the time a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention was filed, New York is not the proper venue to hear the case. His lawyers argue that they filed in New York because at that time the ICE inmate locator, a website that displays the location of ICE detainees, incorrectly showed Khalil at a New York facility. The two parties will argue over the proper venue in filings over the next several days.
Below is a timeline of Khalil’s contact with his legal team. We will update the story when more information becomes available on the legal team’s phone call with Khalil.
March 7, 6:46 AM: Mahmoud Khalil writes an email to Columbia University’s president describing the doxing campaign and fear he would be targeted by ICE.
March 8, 8:26 PM: Khalil calls his lawyer Amy Greer to inform her he is surrounded by DHS agents. Greer asks the agent, Elvin Hernandez, if he has a warrant, and he eventually hangs up.
March 8, 8:34 PM: Khalil’s wife, Noor, calls a lawyer, says DHS has him in handcuffs. She asks if agents have a warrant, no response. Asks where they are taking him, eventually saying to 26 Federal Plaza, the USCIS District Office.
March 9, 3:20 AM: ICE moves Khalil from New York to Elizabeth Detention Facility in New Jersey
March 9, 4:40 AM: Khalil’s lawyer files habeas petition in New York court, unaware that her client was relocated from New York to New Jersey.
March 9, 8:30 AM: ICE database still shows Khalil’s location as New York, despite him having been transferred hours earlier. Sometime after 9 AM, the locator changes to Elizabeth, New Jersey.
March 9, 11:20 AM: Khalil’s wife, Noor, visits the Elizabeth facility, only to be told he isn’t showing up in the system.
March 9, 11:30 AM: Khalil departs Elizabeth facility en route to airport.
March 9, 1:47 PM: ICE emails Khalil’s lawyer stating he is being transferred to New Orleans
March 9, 5:18 PM: The Assistant United States Attorney emails Khalil’s lawyer saying based on information and belief Khalil is deportable.
March 9-10, overnight: Khalil arrives in Louisiana “late in the evening Sunday night, early Monday morning,” according to AUSA in transcript, and is booked into the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center.
March 10, 12:33 AM: Khalil is booked into Central Louisiana ICE Processing Facility.
March 10, 9:36 AM: Khalil calls his wife and tells her he is Louisiana, the first time they've let him call since arrest.
March 10, 10:17 AM: Khalil calls his lawyer, confirms he is in Jena, LA. The call gets cut off prematurely.
March 12, 8:30 PM: Khalil has a lengthy call with his legal team. Another is scheduled for Thursday.
If you have information about Khalil’s ICE detention, contact Jason Paladino securely on Signal at jpal.01.
Sign and share Drop Site’s petition to demand the release of Khalil and stand with millions of Americans who believe in protecting constitutional rights.
 | A guest post by
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In keeping with the overall disgust at the treatment of Mahmoud Khalil, let's not let Shai Davidai and David Lederer, the two Israeli sympathizer sleazes who targeted Khalil and reported him to DHS, fade into the background. No doubt they are giddy with delight right now at what they have subjected Mahmoud and his wife to at this time in their lives, all too characteristic of soulless Zionists.
You are like a dog with a bone. Bravo. Even though I am a subscriber, I am going to make an additional contribution based on your pursuit of justice for Khalil.