Lawmakers visit Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk in Louisiana jail

A team of Democratic lawmakers have met with two students who are currently in immigration detention in Louisiana.

The group visited the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility in Jena where former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk, a graduate student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, are being held.

The pair, who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, were detained separately in March by immigration officers.

Their arrests form part of the White House’s crackdown on what it has classified as antisemitism on US college campuses.

The Democratic group included: representatives Cleo Fields and Troy Carter, both of Louisiana; Bennie Thompson of Mississippi; Ayana Pressley of Massachusetts; and Sen Edward J Markey, also of Massachusetts.

“No one should be snatched away from their family without due process,” said Rep Carter.

He accused the administration of “doing this intentionally to demonstrate cruelty and instill fear in our friends and neighbours.”

Mahmoud Khalil has been at the Louisiana detention centre since 8 March, when immigration officers told him he was being deported for taking part in protests against the war in Gaza.

The 30-year-old, who lives in New York, was a student negotiator at Columbia University during pro-Palestinian protests in 2024.

The Trump administration cited a 1952 law empowering the government to deport someone if their presence in the country posed unfavourable consequences for American foreign policy.

A judge in Louisiana said the Trump administration was allowed to move forward with its effort to deport Mr Khalil because the argument of “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US is “facially reasonable”.

In a recent open letter, Mr Khalil urged the US public to see that the country was “a democracy of convenience, and rights are granted to those who align with power.”

His lawyers have told the BBC that they will continue to seek bail, as well as a preliminary injunction, to free him from custody.

His wife, Noor Abdalla, gave birth to their first child on Monday. She said Mr Khalil’s application for a temporary release from the detention centre to attend the birth was declined.

“This was a purposeful decision by Ice to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer,” Ms Abdalla said.

Rumeysa Ozturk was detained on 25 March outside Boston, as she was walking to an Iftar meal to celebrate Ramadan. Masked, plain-clothes officers handcuffed and lead her to an unmarked car. The Ph.D. student participated in pro-Palestinian protests as a legal US resident.

Last week the US District Court for the District of Vermont ruled that her challenge to her unconstitutional detention by Ice should continue in Vermont and the government should transfer her back to a facility in Vermont no later than 1 May. The court also set a bail hearing for 9 May.

Legal teams for both students said choosing a Louisiana jail was deliberate to keep them away from their homes. The lawyers also accused the Trump administration of manipulating federal court jurisdiction.