Federal Judge Orders Mahmoud Khalil Released From Detention

The judge said he would issue a formal order later in the day directing the Trump administration to release Khalil.

Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil speaks to reporters after being released from immigration custody in Jena, La., on June 20, 2025. Kathleen Flynn/Reuters

A federal judge in New Jersey has ordered the release of former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

During a court hearing on June 20, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz granted Khalil bail, following an earlier decision this month to block his deportation and continued detention.

The judge said he would issue a formal order later in the day directing the Trump administration to release Khalil, while denying the government’s request to stay his decision for seven days, according to reporters in the courtroom.

Hours later, Khalil was released from immigration custody, speaking to reporters outside the Louisiana immigrant detention center where he was being held.

Bail conditions restrict his travel to New York, New Jersey, Michigan, the District of Columbia, and Louisiana, where he must attend immigration proceedings.

The Trump administration filed an appeal against Farbiarz’s rulings with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on the evening of Khalil’s release. This could affect Khalil’s release status or the conditions of his bail. The Epoch Times has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Khalil, 30, served as a spokesperson for student protesters who opposed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.

His arrest was carried out under an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that aimed to hold accountable individuals accused of engaging in anti-Semitic or pro-terrorist activities on college campuses.

At the time, Trump said to expect many more arrests and deportations of individuals who the president said were sympathetic to the views of terrorists.

“Many are not students, they are paid agitators,” Trump wrote in a post on social media on March 10. “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country—never to return again.”

Following his arrest, Khalil was transferred to the detention facility in Louisiana. His green card was canceled, and administration officials sought his deportation.

Khalil’s lawyers said his arrest and impending removal from the United States violated his constitutional rights.

The case ended up before Farbiarz, who on June 11 blocked Khalil’s continued detention. However, on June 13, the judge denied Khalil’s request for an order that would have forced the Trump administration to release him immediately, after the Justice Department said it would continue to detain him on separate legal grounds.

However, both the judge and the Justice Department said Khalil could seek relief in the usual administrative system that governs immigration cases, and that he could seek bail.

On June 16, Khalil’s attorneys urged the judge to grant their request for Khalil to be released on bail or be transferred from Jena, Louisiana, to immigration detention in New Jersey, so that he could be closer to his family in New York.

Lawyers for the Trump administration contended in a June 17 filing that Khalil’s release request should be directed to the immigration judge handling his deportation proceedings, rather than to Farbiarz, who is weighing the constitutionality of Khalil’s arrest and detention.

Government attorneys also contended that Khalil’s continued detention is independently justified by a second removability charge—alleging fraud in his application for permanent legal residency—and that the court had upheld the legality of that detention just days earlier.

Justice Department lawyers also noted that Khalil had failed to exhaust available administrative remedies, such as requesting a bond hearing before an immigration judge, while arguing that Khalil was trying to bypass a well-established legal process that governs release during removal proceedings.

“In any event, this Court should not order Khalil’s outright release, because doing so would impede on the Government’s discretionary decision to detain him on lawful independent grounds,” they wrote.

In response, Khalil’s attorneys argued in a June 18 court filing that their client was not trying to bypass immigration proceedings because a request to be released on bail is not a circumvention of such proceedings but an “independent process rooted in a federal court’s inherent authority.”

They also argued that Khalil poses no flight risk or danger to the public, and cited an Immigration and Customs Enforcement directive concerning parental interests, noting that Khalil has custody of his son and serves as a primary caregiver.

Reuters contributed to this report.