UPDATE - US judge orders release of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil

ADDS MORE INFORMATION; SMALL EDITS

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - A US federal judge on Friday ordered the release of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who has been in government custody since March, according to local media reports.

Judge Michael E. Farbiarz of the Federal District Court in Newark, New Jersey ruled that the government cannot deport Khalil and must release him.

Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student, was arrested on March 8 in New York City and transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in the southern state of Louisiana, thousands of kilometers away.

Though he has not been accused of a crime, the Trump administration has argued that if Khalil is not deported, he could undermine foreign policy goals regarding fighting antisemitism.

Farbiarz said the court finds that Khalil does not pose a danger to the community, nor does he present a flight risk, “period, full stop."

Stressing that it’s “highly, highly unusual” that the government is still seeking Khalil’s detention, the judge said: "Together, they suggest that there is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner – and, of course, that would be unconstitutional."

While held in detention, Khalil was unable to witness the birth of his first child.