#MahmoudKhalil’s wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, was there with the couple’s infant son, Deen, who was born on April 21. Speaking through tears, Dr. Abdalla said she had looked forward to her husband getting to experience his commencement ceremony.

“Like witnessing the birth of our son, Deen, & the first precious month of his life, this moment was stolen from him,” she said.

An #immigration court judge, Jamee Comans, is overseeing his immigration proceedings, which determine more narrowly whether the US has met the legal burden for deporting him. #MahmoudKhalil’s next immigration court hearing is scheduled for Thurs.
Over the weekend, friends & supporters of Khalil held a “people’s graduation” event in NYC, acknowledging that if he were free, he would have walked in a #ColumbiaUniversity commencement this week.
#Trump #law #dissent #FirstAmendment #AmericanAutocracy

Evidence submitted in #MahmoudKhalil’s #immigration case revealed NO secretive support for Hamas. And his lawyers have pointed to comments he made on CNN saying that “#antisemitism & any form of #racism has no place on campus & in this movement.”

His case continues to play out in 2 separate courts. Judge Farbiarz has the power to free him & to determine the constitutionality of the admin’s attempts to deport him.

…In #MahmoudKhalil’s case, the admin moved w/…speed, both in initially detaining him & in rationalizing his arrest.
A spox for #DHS quickly claimed he had led activities “aligned to Hamas.” And Karoline Leavitt, the White House propagandist, accused him of “siding with terrorists,” & of participating in #protests in which “pro-Hamas” fliers were handed out.
But in the weeks since, those allegations have not been substantiated.

In the 2nd ruling, issued April 29, he acknowledged the #law’s response to cases like #MahmoudKhalil’s “has been the same across the board: no unnecessary delay.”

“Mahmoud is understandably frustrated that he was the 1st to be detained & 9 wks later is still in detention.…We remain optimistic that the court will see through the patent unconstitutionality of the govt’s actions here & order him released soon,”said Baher Azmy, one of Khalil’s attys & legal dir at Center for #ConstitutionalRights.

#MahmoudKhalil’s attys have repeatedly asked the judge to decide whether to release their client on #bail, like the other #students, before ruling on the issues at the heart of the case. The judge has responded that he must deal w/procedural basics first.

Judge Farbiarz has issued numerous orders & written 2 lengthy rulings: a 67pg determination that he had the right to preside over the case & a 108pg opinion asserting his control over the case had not been stripped.

The NJ judge, Michael E. Farbiarz, has been thoroughly engaged. But he has yet to weigh in fully on the issues of #FreeSpeech & #DueProcess that have attracted enormous attention to #MahmoudKhalil’s case.

His meticulous approach has made the case an exemplar of #Trump-era *justice*, in which the White House frequently moves with a speed that courts are not used to matching.

The #Trump admin has invoked a rarely cited #law to argue that #MahmoudKhalil’s presence in the country threatens its #ForeignPolicy *goal* of halting *#antisemitism*. Khalil’s lawyers have argued that the govt is retaliating against their client, a #legal permanent resident, for participating in #protests that shook Columbia’s campus & that he should have his liberty while his #immigration case is assessed.