Beside sheer brutality, there is a clear strategic reason that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents quickly whisked Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil out of New York City last weekend. It’s the reason he was first transported to New Jersey, then to a private detention center in Louisiana. And it’s why the Trump administration is fighting to keep him there, more than a thousand miles away from his pregnant wife and lawyers.

That reason: Ravi Ragbir, whose court victories against the first Trump administration regarding his own retaliatory detention made New York a far less friendly forum for the government.

“Their intent is to intimidate, to create fear among people who don’t agree with them,” Ragbir told The Intercept in an interview.

Like Khalil, Ragbir is an activist in New York City who was targeted for deportation over his speech during the first Trump administration. Like Khalil, Ragbir was quickly flown to a far-off detention center — in his case, in Miami — as his family, friends, and attorney frantically tried to locate him. And like Khalil, whose attorney worked through the night to file a rapid petition for his release, Ragbir quickly challenged his detention and deportation.

In 2019, Ragbir won a ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — the federal appellate court that covers New York — that affirmed noncitizens’ right to challenge targeted deportations as unconstitutional retaliation under the First Amendment.

The 2nd Circuit’s decision in Ragbir’s favor is a powerful shield, not just for Khalil but also others the Trump administration has vowed to detain and deport based on Palestinian solidarity protests and activism. But that decision is only binding law within the 2nd Circuit’s jurisdiction — and not in states which fall under different federal appellate courts, such as Louisiana.

Avoiding the Ragbir precedent is precisely why ICE moved Khalil so quickly, his attorneys argued in a motion demanding that ICE bring him back to New York. Indeed, two Department of Homeland Security officials recently told The Atlantic that Khalil was moved to Louisiana “to seek the most favorable venue” for the government’s arguments.

“The Court need not accept such brazen interference with its role in assessing the legality of government action,” Khalil’s attorneys wrote to the federal judge in New York currently overseeing his case. In filings, the government countered that Khalil’s challenge belongs in Louisiana, in what will be the first of many legal battles.

“ICE will want to drag this on as long as possible,” Ragbir said.

Ragbir’s ordeal shows the lengths that Khalil and his legal team will need to go to secure his freedom and his right to stay in the United........

© The Intercept