The incident had once been shifted from New York to New Jersey.
On April 1, a federal judge rejected the US government’s request to move the legal case brought by arrested Columbia University protesters to the state where he is in custody.
New Jersey-based US district judge Michael Fabiartz has determined that Mahmoud Khalil’s case will remain in New Jersey.
He was arrested by immigration agents on March 8th. In his March 20 application, government lawyers requested that the Halil case be transferred to Louisiana as he is in custody for immigration and customs enforcement.
“If Khalil filed the petition today, no one has contested that it must be in the western district of Louisiana. The only question before this court was whether the principles were no longer held, because Khalil was temporarily in New Jersey when he improperly filed his former marine petition in New York,” the answer said.
Related Stories
Halil’s lawyers opposed the move and urged the court to release his client as the court proceeded.
Farbiarz said in the case of habeas protection, the courts with jurisdiction will oversee the area in which the petitioner is located at the time the lawsuit is filed.
Halil was in New Jersey when the petition was filed.
The government’s argument was unconvincing, Farbeers said. That included claims that Halil did not name his direct custodian in New Jersey.
“He didn’t have to. The custodian was not only unknown to the petitioner’s lawyer, but also virtually unknown to her, and the petition managed to clear the bar by doing what it did.
A lawyer representing Halil did not respond to a request for comment.
The judge did not rule out Halil’s attempt to secure release.
Halil’s lawyers said he thought he was in custody in New York when he filed a petition accusing federal immigration officials of violating the constitutional rights of Syrian Indigenous people who allegedly arrested for participating in the pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University.
