ICE argues warrantless arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was legal

Federal immigration agents did not have a warrant when they arrested anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil last month and defended their actions in new court documents, saying the arrest was legal. 

Khalil, one of the ringleaders of anti-Israel protests at Columbia University last year who the Trump administration is trying to deport, was arrested about six weeks ago from his university-owned apartment in New York City with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which is part of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), telling him they were revoking his green card and student visa, according to Khalil's attorney, Amy Greer. He was then taken to a Louisiana detention center.

Documents entered in a New Jersey court on Thursday reveal a lawyer for Homeland Security wrote that when agents confronted Khalil on March 8 and asked him to cooperate while they tried to verify his identity, Khalil "stated that he would not cooperate and that he was going to leave the scene," the lawyer wrote.

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The Homeland Security supervisory agent at that point "believed there was a flight risk and arrest was necessary," he said.

Lawyers for Khalil disputed the government’s account of the situation and said Khalil’s wife went into their apartment to retrieve his Green Card only for the agents to arrest him. Khalil is a Palestinian raised in Syria and a permanent U.S. resident. Khalil’s attorneys argued that the Trump administration has shown no evidence that he refused to cooperate with agents during his arrest.

Greer, who was on the phone with Khalil and the arresting agent on the night of the arrest, said Khalil remained calm and complied with orders even as agents failed to show an arrest warrant. His lawyers say video released by Khalil's wife shows he remained cooperative.

"Today, we now know why they never showed Mahmoud that warrant — they didn’t have one. This is clearly yet another desperate attempt by the Trump administration to justify its unlawful arrest and detention of human rights defender Mahmoud Khalil, who is now, by the government’s own tacit admission, a political prisoner of the United States," Greer said.

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The Department of Homeland Security said previously that it conducted the arrest to protect U.S. national security and claimed that Khalil "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization."

Khalil played a major role in the protests against Israel which rocked Columbia University last year, and he met with university officials on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a group of student groups urging the university to divest from Israel, according to CNN. Khalil, who acted as a spokesperson for Columbia protesters, has not been charged with a crime.

An immigration judge has already ruled that Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from the U.S. due to his involvement in the protests at Columbia University, saying that the U.S. government met its burden of proof to remove him. Khalil’s attorneys are appealing that decision. 

Marc Van Der Hout, a lawyer for Khalil, said in a press release put out by the American Civil Liberties Union that agents told Khalil when he was taken into custody that they had an arrest warrant and his lawyers only learned this week with the new government filing that there was none.

"The government’s admission is astounding, and it is completely outrageous that they tried to assert to the immigration judge — and the world — in their initial filing of the arrest report that there was an arrest warrant when there was none," Van Der Hout said. "This is egregious conduct by DHS that should require, under the law, termination of these proceedings and we hope that the immigration court will so rule."

Khalil finished his requirements for a Columbia master’s degree in December. Born in Syria, he is a grandson of Palestinians who were forced to leave their homeland, his lawyers said in a legal filing.

His wife, who is a U.S. citizen, gave birth to the couple’s child this week. Khalil requested a temporary release to attend the birth but ICE denied those appeals, resulting in him missing the event.

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Khalil’s case has sparked several protests in New York City, including a mass demonstration inside Trump Tower last month which saw nearly 100 people arrested. It’s also being viewed as a marker of the Trump administration’s attempts to detain and deport visa holders who protested on college campuses.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously defended the Trump administration's decision to arrest Khalil and claimed that he distributed pro-Hamas propaganda fliers on campus.

"This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans," Leavitt told reporters Tuesday at a White House press briefing, noting that on her desk were the "pro-Hamas propaganda fliers with the logo of Hamas" on them that Khalil allegedly was distributing. "We have a zero-tolerance policy for siding with terrorists period."

Fox News’ Diana Stancy, Alexis McAdams and Stepheny Price, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.