Department of Justice attorneys asked a federal judge on Tuesday to reject anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil’s request for authorities to release him or transfer him from an immigration detention center in Louisiana to one in New Jersey.
The government attorneys said the courts do not have the authority to intervene with the executive branch's decision to detain a noncitizen who is in removal proceedings.
"Congress authorized detention of aliens and gave the Executive significant discretion in that regard," they wrote.
The attorneys also said that logistically speaking, the Trump administration could not transfer Khalil even if it wanted to. Khalil had asked a judge on Monday to release him from ICE detention in Jena, Louisiana, on bail while his case proceeds or to transfer him to the Elizabeth, New Jersey, facility, which is closer to his wife, newborn and legal team.
The DOJ attorneys cited an ICE official's affidavit, which revealed that the ICE facility in Elizabeth had 355 detainees, meaning it was over capacity by 51 people.
"ICE retains discretion to detain Khalil where it so chooses," the attorneys wrote. "Additionally, factual considerations counsel against transferring Khalil to Elizabeth. Simply, the facility is over capacity."
Judge Michael Farbiarz, a Biden appointee, denied Khalil's initial request to release him from detention while he fights his removal from the country in federal court.
Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was arrested in March outside his apartment at Columbia University. An immigration judge deemed him removable based on a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that said Khalil's anti-Israel activism on campus ran counter to the United States's foreign policy interests. Rubio cited a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to justify his finding.
Khalil's case has garnered enormous attention from First Amendment advocates, who have argued the government is chilling free speech by revoking the green card of a noncitizen who outspokenly and aggressively opposes the Israeli government amid its offensive in the Gaza Strip and its escalating conflict with Iran.
Farbiarz agreed with Khalil and his supporters that Rubio's justification for revoking Khalil's green card was likely unconstitutional.
But the Trump administration has alleged that in addition to Khalil's advocacy amounting to foreign policy defiance and antisemitism, Khalil also made omissions on his green card application.
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Khalil, who was born in Syria but has Algerian citizenship, left off a government application form that he was a member of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest, and he failed to disclose other places he worked, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in 2023, according to the DHS.
The DHS alleged that Khalil "procured his legal status through ‘fraud or by willfully misrepresenting a material fact,’" in violation of immigration laws.
