Detained Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil will stay locked up in a Louisiana ICE facility for now — as a New Jersey judge refused to consider freeing him on bail during a hearing Friday.
Newark federal court Judge Michael Farbiarz declined to hear arguments on whether to free the 30-year-old green card holder — who has become the face of President Trump’s crackdown on students protesting the Israel-Hamas war — during the hour-long hearing, which was attended by his pregnant wife.
Instead, the judge said he’d rule first on the feds’ bid to move Khalil’s legal case challenging his deportation to Louisiana, where he is currently being held.
Khalil, who did not appear at the hearing, has been detained for more than two weeks since he was nabbed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at his university-owned Manhattan apartment building.
One of his lawyer, Ramzi Kassem, told reporters afterward that his wife, Noor Abdalla, has been “going through an extremely difficult period of time” in his absence.
“She has said publicly that Mr. Khalil was her main support during her pregnancy. He prepared all her meals. He made sure she took her medication,” Kassem said.
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