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The case against pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil will remain in New Jersey after a judge denied a government motion to have the case transferred to Louisiana where the Columbia graduate student remains in federal custody since his arrest last month. On Tuesday, US District Judge Michael Farbiarz concluded the New Jersey court has jurisdiction over the case because Khalil was in the state at the time his attorneys filed a habeas corpus motion seeking to challenge the legality of his detention, according to a 67-page decision. Khalil, a negotiator for pro-Palestinian student protesters in talks with Columbia’s administration over last spring’s contentious campus encampment against the Israel-Hamas war , was arrested on outside of his apartment on Columbia University’s campus on March 8.
He was briefly detained in Manhattan and then transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Jersey. Several hours later, Khalil was finally transferred to a detention center in Louisiana where he remains today. Attorneys for the government argued in proceedings last week that the motion needed to be filed in Louisiana because that is where Khalil is located.
But, Judge Farbiarz disagreed. “The Petitioner was in custody in New Jersey as of March 9 at 4:40am,” Farbiarz wrote. “And under a federal statute, the Petition, though filed in New York, must be treated as having been filed in New Jersey on March 9 at 4:40am.
Therefore, this Court has jurisdiction.” It is the Department of Justice’s second attempt at moving the case. Shortly after his arrest, attorneys for the Trump administration argued the case should be moved from New York to New Jersey.
A New York federal district court judge granted the motion. The government then moved to file another motion to transfer the case from New Jersey to Louisiana. CNN has reached out to Khalil’s attorneys for comment.
This is a developing story and will be updated..
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