Columbia Protester Mahmoud Khalil Freed From Immigration Detention

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES – JUNE 01: Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil talks to the press during the press briefing organized by Pro-Palestinian protesters who set up a new encampment at Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus on Friday evening, in New York City, United States on June 01, 2024. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

JENA, La. (AP) — Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has been released from federal immigration detention. The former Columbia University graduate student left a federal facility in Louisiana on Friday after 104 days in custody. He said justice prevailed but was very long overdue. Khalil was released after a federal judge said it would be “highly unusual” for the government to keep detaining a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn’t been accused of any violence. The Trump administration has filed notice it plans to appeal Khalil’s release. The government says Khalil must be expelled from the country because his presence could harm American foreign policy. His lawyers say the Trump administration is cracking down on free speech.