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Lawyers for the detained Columbia graduate said that the lack of substantive charges against him requires more information from the secretary of state. They acknowledge they are likely to fail.
April 10, 2025, 7:22 p.m. ET
Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil on Thursday said that they would seek testimony from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who argues that though Mr. Khalil committed no crimes, his very presence in the United States enables antisemitism.
Mr. Khalil, a Columbia University graduate who led pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the campus last year, has been detained by the government for more than a month. He has a hearing in immigration court in Louisiana on Friday where, his lawyers acknowledged, it is unlikely that the judge will grant their request to hear from Mr. Rubio.
But they said that the lack of justification for Mr. Khalil’s detention other than Mr. Rubio’s assertion made it all the more essential that the secretary be compelled to answer questions in a deposition.
“Mr. Khalil has the right under due process to confront the evidence against him, and that’s what we want to examine Secretary of State Rubio about,” said Marc Van Der Hout, one of his lawyers.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawyers’ remarks came in a news briefing a day after the Department of Homeland Security submitted evidence in its case to deport Mr. Khalil. The case has raised major questions about free speech and due process during President Trump’s second term.
Mr. Khalil’s lawyers said that the evidence that the department submitted — including an undated memo from Mr. Rubio — provided no additional justification for the Trump administration’s argument for Mr. Khalil’s deportation.
