Anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil lamented leaving behind some “incredible men” on Friday as he left a Louisiana detention facility, which he hopes becomes a museum to what he described as “America’s racist policies.”
“I leave some incredible men behind me, over 1,000 people behind me, in a place where they shouldn’t have been in the first place,” Khalil told reporters after walking out of the La Salle Detention Facility in Jena, La.
“I hope the next time that I will be in Jena is to actually visit this as a museum on America’s racist policies against immigrants,” the former Columbia University student added.
After being picked up by federal immigration authorities on March 8, Khalil spent 104 days at the rural Louisiana detention center as the Trump administration fought to deport the Syrian-born permanent resident for allegedly engaging in activities “aligned to Hamas,” a Palestinian terror group, while studying at Columbia.
“The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here,” Khalil charged outside the detention center, “whether you are a US citizen, an immigrant, or just a person on this land doesn’t mean that you are less of a human.”
“[President Trump] and his administration, they chose the wrong person for this,” he said defiantly. “That doesn’t mean that there is a right person.”
Khalil, wearing a keffiyeh, went on to slam his alma mater, accusing the Ivy League school of “investing in the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
“There is no right person who should be detained, who are actually protesting a genocide, for protesting their university – Columbia University – that is investing in the genocide of the Palestinian people,” he said.
Newark federal Judge Michael Farbiarz, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, ordered Khalil’s release earlier Friday, finding that the Trump administration may be unfairly holding him in retaliation for his outspoken stance against Israel’s war with Hamas.
Farbiarz determined that Khalil is not a flight risk and “not a danger to the community.”
The anti-Israel activist said the first thing he’ll do when he returns home to New York is “just hug my wife and son.”
Khalil’s wife, an American citizen, gave birth to their son in April while her husband was being held in the Louisiana facility.
“The only time I spent with my son was a specified one-hour limit that the government had imposed on us … so that means that now I can actually hug him and Noor, my wife, without looking at the clock,” Khalil said.
“The moment you enter this facility, your rights leave you, leave you behind,” he continued. “So, once you enter there, you see a different reality – just a different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice.”
“But once you cross, literally, that door, you see that opposite side of what’s actually happening in this country.”
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin slammed Farbiarz ruling and told The Post she expects a higher court to order Khalil’s return to federal custody.
“An immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Mr. Khalil should be released or detained,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “On the same day an immigration judge denied Khalil bond and ordered him removed, one rogue district judge ordered him released.”
“This is yet another example of how out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security. Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts.”
McLaughlin argued that “it is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America” and that the Trump administration “acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property.”
“An immigration judge has already vindicated this position. We expect a higher court to do the same.”
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