Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate detained by the Trump administration last weekend, have not been able to hold a private conversation with their client since his arrest.
That revelation came from a hearing in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, as lawyers for Mr. Khalil and the government appeared in front of a judge, Jesse Furman, to discuss Mr. Khalil’s detention, which has raised significant concerns about free speech protections amid President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Mr. Khalil, a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Columbia University campus, was arrested by federal immigration agents in New York on Saturday and is being held at a facility in Louisiana. He has not been charged with any crime.
But the Trump administration has accused him of siding with terrorists, and justified his detention by citing an obscure statute that grants the secretary of state the power to declare that someone whose presence in the United States is “adversarial” to the country’s foreign policy and national security interests is subject to deportation.
Early Sunday morning, lawyers for Mr. Khalil filed a petition questioning the circumstances of his detention. They have asked Judge Furman to compel the government to return him to New York.
At the conference Wednesday morning, one of Mr. Khalil’s lawyers, Ramzi Kassem, said that the distance was interfering with his client’s access to the court proceeding that could result in his release.
Mr. Kassem said that he had sought to hold a private call with Mr. Khalil to discuss his case, and that the earliest appointment the lawyers were offered was on March 20, nearly two weeks after it was requested.
Judge Furman said that he would order the government to allow Mr. Khalil’s lawyers to speak with him Wednesday and Thursday as they prepare a new filing calling for his release.
This is a developing story and will be updated.