Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump clearly doesn't like pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, so he had him arrested and imprisoned on the grounds that he is somehow compromising foreign policy. Khalil sued. Now U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, a Joe Biden appointee, ruled that Khalil is no threat to U.S. foreign policy and must be released. However, the ruling does not go into effect until Friday to give the government time to appeal for an emergency stay. This is yet another case in which judges have ruled that the arbitrary and capricious actions Trump is taking cannot stand.
However, federal officials may have discovered an escape hatch. They claim Khalil completed his green card application inaccurately, which could result in the green card being revoked, thus subjecting Khalil to deportation. They claim that he failed to list some organizations of which he was a member. That aspect of the case was not addressed by the judge.
Khalil took part in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, where he is a graduate student. Since taking part in a peaceful demonstration is protected by the First Amendment, the Trump administration had to come up with some other basis on which to arrest him. They decided that threatening the country's foreign policy sounded like a good idea, but the judge didn't buy it.
Additionally, the judge suggested that the law used to arrest Khalil may itself be unconstitutional.
This ruling is a major victory for green-card-holding activists of all stripes who want to protest something the government is doing that they don't like. If it stands up, the government will not be able to arrest them on bogus charges that they are interfering with U.S. foreign policy, which is such a broad accusation as to be completely meaningless. (V)