Video appears to show Mahmoud Khalil cooperating with ICE agents before he was detained

Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team on Monday released new footage of the minutes leading up to his arrest that they say contradicts the government’s argument that he was a flight risk.

Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyers on Monday released new video of the minutes leading up to his arrest in March that they say contradicts the government’s argument that he was a flight risk, which officials had said justified detaining him without an arrest warrant. 

Khalil, a Syrian-born green card holder who helped organize pro-Palestinian rallies on campus a year ago, has been held in a detention center in Louisiana for two months. He has been fighting his detention and deportation since his arrest, which was the first under the White House administration's promised campaign against students who protested the war in Gaza.

Khalil’s legal team obtained the five-minute security video through a subpoena, which Columbia University complied with. The video has no sound, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ faces are blurred. The clip was pulled from five hours of video that Columbia University turned over to Khalil’s legal team.

Moments before Mahmoud Khalil's arrest in New York City on March 8.Courtesy Mahmoud Khalil's legal team via Columbia UniversityThe video begins in the lobby of Khalil's New York City apartment building with him speaking to his attorney on the phone and interacting with the four ICE officers while his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, walks toward a hallway. Abdalla, according to Khalil’s legal team, went to get Khalil’s green card from their apartment. 

Khalil can also be seen interacting with the ICE agents and handing them his phone twice to speak with his attorney, his legal team said. Khalil appears calm and cooperative, and at one point he appears to laugh with the agents.