Free Republic

A New York federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s bid to dismiss the legal challenge brought by Mahmoud Khalil, the recent Columbia graduate and Palestinian activist who was detained by immigration enforcement agents earlier this month, and has ordered the case transferred to New Jersey. Khalil, a permanent US resident with a green card who helped lead Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests last spring, was arrested in New York on 8 March by federal immigration authorities. He was transferred first to New Jersey and then to Louisiana, where he is currently detained. The Trump administration sought his deportation but two...

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil is not to be deported "unless and until the Court orders otherwise," on Monday. Khalil, who led anti-Israel protests and encampments on Columbia University's campus, was taken into custody on the Upper West Side in New York City on Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that he was a former Columbia graduate student who "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization." The judge ordered a hearing for Wednesday. This after Khalil's lawyer argued their client had been detained illegally and should be released. Politicians have...

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has been ordered to be deposed due to his decision to reinstate a citizenship status question in the upcoming 2020 census. A U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York "Secretary Ross must sit for a deposition because… his intent and credibility are directly at issue, had an unusually strong personal interest and that he went through with this action despite "strong and continuing opposition" from the U.S. Census Bureau… there is a “heightened risk in the current political climate” that the question will lead to a lower response rate “because of...