**NEW YORK**
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil will remain in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in the state of Louisiana following a hearing in New York, according to reports.
New York Federal Judge Jesse Furman blocked immediate deportation efforts until further court proceedings, CNN reported.
During a hearing Wednesday, Furman ordered that Khalil be allowed to speak with his legal team at least once on Wednesday and Thursday after attorneys raised concerns about access to their client, it added.
“He was taken by US government agents in retaliation, essentially, for exercising his First Amendment rights, for speaking up in defense of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond, for being critical of the US government and of the Israeli government,” Ramzi Kassem, an attorney for Khalil, told reporters outside the court.
Justice Department lawyers argued for the case to be moved out of New York, proposing New Jersey or Louisiana as alternative venues.
Khalil, a green card holder and a recent Columbia University who helped organize campus protests last year, was arrested Saturday at his university-owned residence in what his lawyers said is a politically motivated deportation attempt by the Trump administration.
Khalil was arrested by ICE agents who claimed his student visa was revoked -- even though he is a legal permanent resident and not in the US on a student visa. Agents then told him his green card was revoked.
He is married to a US citizen who is eight months pregnant. His wife condemned the arrest, saying she was “left wondering when Mahmoud will get a chance to call me.”
Fourteen members of Congress, including Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley have signed a letter Tuesday demanding Khalil's release, criticizing his detention as an "attempt to criminalize political protest" and a "direct assault on freedom of speech."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the move to recoke Khalil's green card, saying his case is not about free speech and accused him of being a supporter of Hamas.
"Coming to the United States on a visa is a privilege, not a right. The Trump Administration is determined to deny or revoke your visa if you're here to support terrorists," he wrote on X.
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