Mahmoud Khalil was arrested without a warrant, DHS lawyers say [View all]

Source: Axios

12 hours ago


Immigration authorities did not have an arrest warrant when agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security said in a court filing this week.

The big picture: Khalil, a leader of Columbia's pro-Palestinian protests, is a legal U.S. resident who has been in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since last month. His arrest sparked outcry across the U.S.

Zoom in: Government lawyers argue in the filing that DHS was not required to obtain a judicial arrest warrant before taking Khalil, a U.S. green card holder from Syria, into custody on March 8.

The "officers had exigent circumstances to conduct the warrantless arrest, it is the pattern and practice of DHS to fully process a respondent once in custody," wrote the lawyers in the document that was originally filed in immigration court Wednesday and submitted to federal court Thursday

They argued agents had reasons to believe Khalil "would escape before they could obtain a warrant" when they approached him inside the foyer of his apartment building.

Khalil was eventually served an arrest warrant after being taken into custody and transported to an ICE office in New York.

The other side: The revelation contradicts what agents told Khalil at the time of his arrest and what agents wrote in the arrest report, Khalil's lawyer said.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2025/04/24/mahmoud-khalil-detained-ice-arrest-warrant