PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia heard arguments on Tuesday in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student who was one of the first legal U.S. residents to be detained by the Trump administration for supporting Palestinian rights.
Khalil was arrested at his New York apartment in March and whisked away to detention in Louisiana. Neither his family nor his attorneys knew where he was. His attorneys challenged his detention in New Jersey, where a judge later ordered his release on bail.
The Third Circuit heard the government’s appeal of the bail ruling on the basis that New Jersey did not have jurisdiction in the case.
The three judges, including two Trump appointees, seemed skeptical. One noted that “immigrants are being spirited out of the country in a day or two,” so attorneys couldn’t wait to confirm his location before seeking bail.
They described the government’s suggestion that the attorneys should have refiled in Louisiana as “creating a black hole of no jurisdiction,” with one judge calling it “Kafkaesque.” They took the case under advisement.
Khalil addressed several dozen supporters who gathered outside the courthouse afterward.
“I absolutely think this shows how my case is actually a test for everyone’s rights here, across the country,” he said. “We are in the fight until the end and, please, this is absolutely not about me. It’s about everyone.”
The government is trying to deport Khalil on the grounds that his pro-Palestinian views “compromise a U.S. foreign policy interest.” The New Jersey judge who granted bail said the argument was “likely unconstitutional.”
Khalil is a legal U.S. resident married to an American citizen. He was recently permitted by a magistrate judge to travel across the country for rallies and other events.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.