Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from immigration detention

JENA, La. (AP) — Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released Friday from federal immigration detention, freed after 104 days by a judge’s ruling after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump ’s clampdown on campus protests.

The former Columbia University graduate student left a federal facility in Louisiana on Friday. He is expected to head to New York to reunite with his U.S. citizen wife and infant son, born while Khalil was detained.

“Justice prevailed, but it’s very long overdue,” he said outside the facility in a remote part of Louisiana. “This shouldn’t have taken three months.”

The Trump administration is seeking to deport Khalil over his role in pro-Palestinian protests. He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan.

Khalil was released after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be “highly, highly unusual” for the government to continue detaining a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn’t been accused of any violence.

“Petitioner is not a flight risk, and the evidence presented is that he is not a danger to the community,” he said. “Period, full stop.”

During an hourlong hearing conducted by phone, the New Jersey-based judge said the government had “clearly not met” the standards for detention.

The government filed notice Friday evening that it's appealing Khalil's release.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a post on the social platform X that the same day Farbiarz ordered Khalil's release, an immigration judge in Louisiana denied him bond and "ordered him removed.” The decision was made by Judge Jamee Comans, who is in a court located in the same detention facility from which Khalil was released.

“An immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Mr. Khalil should be released or detained,” the post said.

Khalil was the first person arrested under Trump’s crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel’s devastating war in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Khalil must be expelled from the country because his continued presence could harm American foreign policy.

The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be deported as it considers their views antisemitic. Protesters and civil rights groups say the administration is conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel in order to silence dissent.

Farbiarz has ruled that the government can't deport Khalil on the basis of its claims that his presence could undermine foreign policy. But the judge gave the administration leeway to continue pursuing a potential deportation based on allegations that he lied on his green card application, an accusation Khalil disputes.

The international affairs graduate student isn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. He served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists and wasn’t among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics.

The judge agreed Friday with Khalil’s lawyers that the protester was being prevented from exercising his free speech and due process rights despite no obvious reason for his continued detention. The judge noted that Khalil is now clearly a public figure.

Khalil said Friday that no one should be detained for protesting Israel's war in Gaza. He said his time in the Jena, Louisiana, detention facility had shown him “a different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice.”

“Whether you are a U.S. citizen, an immigrant or just a person on this land doesn’t mean that you are less of a human,” he said, adding that “justice will prevail, no matter what this administration may try to portray” about immigrants.

Khalil had to surrender his passport and can't travel internationally, but he will get his green card back and be given official documents permitting limited travel within the country, including New York and Michigan to visit family, New Jersey and Louisiana for court appearances and Washington to lobby Congress.

In a statement after the judge's ruling, Khalil’s wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said she can finally “breathe a sigh of relief” after her husband's three months in detention.

“We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others,” she said. “But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family.”

The judge’s decision comes after several other scholars targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another former Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri.

Marcelo reported from New York. Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.

Palestinian activist and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, center, speaks after his release from federal immigration detention in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

The La Salle Detention Facility is seen in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, center, speaks after his release from federal immigration detention in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, center, speaks after his release from federal immigration detention in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil speaks after his release from federal immigration detention in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, center, speaks after his release from federal immigration detention in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, center, speaks after his release from federal immigration detention in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

GUANARE, Venezuela (AP) — Freedom came too late for Edilson Torres.

The former police officer was set to be buried Tuesday in his humble, rural hometown following his death in a Venezuelan prison, where he was held incommunicado since his November detention on what his family said were politically motivated accusations. Hours ahead of the ceremony, his children, neighbors, police officers, friends and dozens others gathered to pay their respects.

Torres, 51, died of a heart attack on Saturday, just as his family awaited the government's promised release of prisoners following the U.S. capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro. His death comes as scores of families like his — who once hesitated to approach advocacy groups — are now coming forward to register their loved ones as “political prisoners.”

Alfredo Romero, director of the organization Foro Penal, a non-governmental organization that tracks and advocates for Venezuelan prisoners, said the group has received a “flood of messages” since last week from families.

“They didn’t report it out of fear, and now they’re doing it because, in a way, they feel that there is this possibility that their families will be freed,” Romero said. “They see it as hope, but more importantly, as an opportunity.”

The head of Venezuela’s national assembly said last week that a “significant number" of Venezuelan and foreigners imprisoned in the country would be released as a gesture to “seek peace.”

Romero explained that of the roughly 300 families who reached out, about 100 cases so far have been confirmed as politically motivated. Most of those reported over the past few days, he said, once worked for Venezuela's military.

As of Tuesday morning, Foro Penal had confirmed the release of 55 prisoners. While Venezuela's government reported a higher figure of 116, it did not identify them, making it impossible to determine whether those freed were behind bars for political or other reasons.

“My little brother, my little brother,” Emelyn Torres said between sobs after his casket, cloaked in Venezuela's flag, arrived at her home for the wake. A few feet away, their grandmother nearly fainted as dozens of people crammed into the living room to pay their respects.

Hours earlier, as a minivan transported the body of her brother 267 miles (430 kilometers) from the capital, Caracas, to Guanare, Torres learned that other men linked to the WhatsApp group that led to her brother's arrest had just been released from prison. She wailed. He did not live long enough to walk free.

Among those who have been released are: human rights attorney Rocío San Miguel, who immediately relocated to Spain; Biagio Pilieri, an opposition leader who was part of Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado’s 2024 presidential campaign; and Enrique Márquez, a former electoral authority and presidential candidate.

Italian businessman Marco Burlò, who was released from prison Monday, told reporters outside an international airport in Rome Tuesday that he was kept isolated throughout his detention, which he characterized as a “pure and real kidnapping.”

“I can’t say that I was physically abused, but without being able to talk to our children, without the right to defense, without being able to speak to the lawyer, completely isolated, here they thought that I might have died," he said.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Flor Zambrano, whose son, Rene Chourio, she says is detained at Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police for political reasons, embraces relatives of other detainees outside the facility in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A photo of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison a month after being arrested on accusations of treason, and his family adorns his coffin during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Relatives of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison a month after being arrested on accusations of treason, sit by his coffin during his wake in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Emelyn Torres leans over the casket of her brother, Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison a month after being detained on accusations of treason, during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Emelyn Torres and Maria Cristina Fernandez, the sister and grandmother of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison after being detained on accusations of treason, embrace during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)