Overview

• Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student activist at Columbia University, remains detained in Louisiana under a rarely used 1950s immigration law after being arrested on March 8.
• ICE denied Khalil’s request for a temporary release to attend the birth of his son in New York, leaving him to experience the moment only via a phone call.
• Khalil’s lawyers had proposed a two-week furlough with an ankle monitor, but the request was rejected by ICE’s New Orleans office.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked the McCarran-Walter Act, classifying Khalil as a foreign policy threat, a move critics say targets pro-Palestinian activism.
• The case has drawn national attention, raising questions about due process, free speech rights for non-citizens, and the human toll of immigration enforcement policies.