A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration's detention of Palestinian freedom activist Mahmoud Khalil this week — but the administration has said it has no plans to release him in response to that ruling, Newsweek reported Friday.
According to the report, the Trump administration's reasoning is that Judge Michael Farbiarz did not actually order Khalil's unconditional release, but simply determined his detention cannot be solely on the basis of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's determination that Khalil's political activism is against U.S. foreign policy.
"In a letter to Farbiarz, the DOJ's civil division said the detained Columbia University graduate can still be held on separate grounds, alleging that he misrepresented his personal information on his application for a green card," said the report.
Khalil, one of the leaders of protests at the university against U.S. support for Israel in the invasion of Gaza, was arrested by federal agents earlier this year and transported across the country to an infamous detention facility network in Louisiana.
The administration has argued that Khalil has spread support for the terrorist group Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attack against Israel triggered the current conflict in Gaza.
But Farbiarz, who serves in the District of New Jersey, found the administration was punishing Khalil for protected political speech.
"The Respondents have not contested the evidence put forward by the Petitioner, and in light of that the Court finds as a matter of fact that the Petitioner’s career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled — and this adds up to irreparable harm," said his ruling.
The Trump administration has sought to deport international students involved in protests against Israel. Last month, a judge ordered officials to release Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University academic who had also been arrested over anti-Israel activism.