In new documents filed in a New Jersey federal court on Thursday, a DHS attorney said that arresting agents felt Khalil was a flight risk because he said "he was going to leave the scene."
The American Civil Liberties Union has contested the account of Khalil saying he'd leave, citing video of the arrest taken by the graduate's wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, and testimony of a lawyer with whom Khalil was on the phone during the encounter.
Amy Greer, the lawyer who was on the phone with Khalil during his arrest, and also spoke to the agent, said he had complied with the agents' orders, even when they failed to show an arrest warrant.
"Today, we now know why they never showed Mahmoud that warrant—they didn't have one. This is clearly yet another desperate attempt by the Trump administration to justify its unlawful arrest and detention of human rights defender Mahmoud Khalil, who is now, by the government's own tacit admission, a political prisoner of the United States," Greer added.
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It's like a free arrest warrant.
'Well, if you don't have a warrant, I'll bid you good day and be off.'
'Flight risk! Arrest him!'