Detained student activist Mahmoud Khalil appears in US immigration court
Mr Khalil, 30, a legal US resident with no criminal record, served as a spokesman and negotiator last year for pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Detained Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil appeared briefly on Friday in immigration court at a remote Louisiana detention centre as his lawyers fight in multiple venues to try to free him.
Mr Khalil, 30, a legal US resident with no criminal record, sat alone next to an empty chair — his lawyer participated via video conference — through a brief court session that dealt only with scheduling.
Mr Khalil swayed back and forth in his chair as he waited for the proceeding to begin in a courtroom inside an isolated Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention complex.
The facility is near the small town of Jena, roughly 150 miles (240km) north of the state capital, Baton Rouge.
Mr Khalil smiled at two observers as they came into the room, where just 13 people ultimately gathered, including the judge, lawyers and court staff. Two journalists and a total of four other observers attended.
By video, lawyer Marc Van Der Hout said he had just recently started representing Mr Khalil and had not yet been able to speak to him or get records in the case. Mr Van Der Hout said he needed more time to delve into the case.
An immigration judge set a fuller hearing for April 8.
The Columbia University graduate student was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on what he calls antisemitic and “anti-American” campus protests.
Mr Khalil served as a spokesperson and negotiator last year for pro-Palestinian demonstrators who opposed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Mr Khalil, who was born in Syria to a Palestinian family, has said in a statement that his detention reflects “anti-Palestinian racism” in the US.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a court filing that there are “ongoing Cabinet-level discussions” about Chief Judge James Boasberg’s demand for more information.
The district judge ordered the Trump administration to either provide more details about the flights or assert a claim that disclosing the information would harm “state secrets”.
The Republican administration has largely resisted the judge’s request, calling it an “unnecessary judicial fishing” expedition.
Judge Boasberg dismissed its response as “woefully insufficient”, increasing the possibility that he may hold administration officials in contempt of court.
Government lawyers filed Mr Blanche’s sworn statement hours before the judge was scheduled to hold a hearing for the case on Friday in Washington.
The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law. Flights were in the air on March 15 when Judge Boasberg issued an order temporarily barring the deportations and ordered planes to return to the US.
The Justice Department has said that the judge’s oral directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed and that it could not apply to flights that had already left the US.
Mr Trump and many Republican allies have called for impeaching Judge Boasberg, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
In a rare statement earlier this week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision”.
