Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, who is in custody, briefly appeared before an immigration judge at a remote Louisiana detention center on Friday as his defense team fights on multiple fronts to secure his release.
Mahmood, 30, a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record, sat alone next to an empty seat (his lawyer participated via video link) during the brief hearing, which focused solely on planning issues.
Khalil rocked in his chair as he waited for his trial to begin in a segregated Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
The facility is located near the small town of Jena, about 150 miles (240 km) north of the state capital of Baton Rouge.
Khalil smiled at the two observers as they entered the room; there were only 13 people in the room, including the judge, lawyers and court staff. There were also two journalists and four other observers.
In a video link, lawyer Mark Van Der Hout noted that he had only recently begun representing Khalil and had not yet had a chance to speak to him or receive the case file. Van Der Hout added that he needed more time to understand the situation.
An immigration judge scheduled a larger hearing for April 8.
A Columbia University graduate student was arrested by federal immigration agents on March 8 as part of President Donald Trump's campaign to suppress what he calls anti-Semitic and “un-American” protests on campus.
Last year, Khalil served as a spokesman and negotiator for pro-Palestinian demonstrators protesting Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip.
Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, said in a statement that his detention was an expression of “anti-Palestinian racism” in the United States.
Later on Friday, it was reported that, under pressure from the Trump administration, Columbia University in New York had agreed to make a number of changes to its policies, including revising its protest rules and immediately reviewing the activities of its Middle Eastern studies department.
The changes were announced a week after the Trump administration threatened the Ivy League school to make these and other reforms or lose all federal funding, an ultimatum that was widely criticized in academic circles as an attack on academic freedom.
The university will also ban protests in academic buildings. Students will not be allowed to wear masks on campus “to conceal their identity.”
In an effort to expand “intellectual diversity,” Columbia will also appoint new faculty members to the Israel Institute and the Jewish Studies Department. The university will also adopt a new definition of anti-Semitism and expand programs at its Tel Aviv Center, a research institution based in Israel.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
