Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil expected in court after ICE arrest
Timothy A. Clary /AFP via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Mahmoud Khalil — the pro-Palestinian activist who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the campus of Columbia University, despite possessing a green card — is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
Khalil is currently being held in Louisiana after being arrested in New York earlier this week. His legal team is asking for Khalil to order the government to return him to New York while his legal fight plays out.
The court will hear the habeas corpus petition filed by Khalil’s legal team on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.
President Donald Trump’s administration has alleged that Khalil — who was a leader of the pro-Palestinian encampment protests on Columbia’s campus — was a supporter of Hamas. Authorities have not charged Khalil with a crime and the administration has not provided any evidence showing Khalil’s alleged support for the militant group.
Baher Azmy, one of the lawyers representing Khalil, called his client’s alleged alignment with Hamas “false and preposterous.”
Attorney Amy E. Greer said Khalil’s detention in Louisiana is a “blatantly improper but familiar tactic designed to frustrate the New York federal court’s jurisdiction.”
Khalil’s arrest has prompted protests calling for his release. Fourteen members of Congress have also signed a letter demanding his release.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
ABC News’ Armando Garcia, James Hill, Laura Romero and Ely Brown contributed to this report.
Airplanes sit parked at gates at Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport/Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
(MIAMI) — A New Jersey man was charged with threatening flight passengers, attendants and crew members on a flight from Miami, Florida, to Newark, New Jersey.
According to the complaint, Luis Vaquero made “threats of physical violence against a disabled minor and mocking a group of Jewish passengers.”
It said that he also threatened a flight attendant when they refused to serve him more alcohol. When the plane arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday, the captain made an announcement that law enforcement would be removing a passenger, according to the complaint.
It said that Vaquero then left his seat and began banging on the flight deck door and cursing at the captain while the plane was taxiing.
When the plane arrived at the gate, the complaint said the captain emerged from the flight deck and Vaquero approached him, screaming in his face and threatening him until law enforcement officers boarded the plane and escorted Vaquero off.
“The defendant is charged with threatening flight crew members and passengers while traveling to Newark,” Acting United States Attorney Vikas Khanna said in a press release. “We are committed to keeping the skies safe for flying and will prosecute those who criminally interfere with the professionals responsible for ensuring passenger safety.”
“It all culminated in a terrifying attack and attempted breach of the flight deck when witnesses say he banged on the cockpit door and confronted the pilot,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly said in the release.
“The harrowing flight and other similar incidents onboard airplanes recently are creating tension and fear for fliers and crew members,” Reilly added. “FBI Newark has a warning for those who think it may not be a big deal—they’re breaking federal law, and they will be brought to justice.”
(MERRITT ISLAND, FL) — With the successful launch of SpaceX’s Fram2 mission on Monday night, an all-civilian crew is attempting to do what professional astronauts have never tried — orbit the Earth from pole to pole.
Riding on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, a SpaceX Dragon lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida just after 9:46 p.m. and carried the team into a 90-degree polar orbit.
During the three to five-day mission, the autonomous Dragon will repeatedly travel from the North Pole to the South Pole at an altitude of 267 miles, with each orbit taking about 46 minutes.
The privately funded mission is being led by Maltese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Chun Wang. Wang is joined by Jannicke Mikkelsen, a Norwegian film director and cinematographer, Rabea Rogge, a robotics researcher from Berlin and Eric Philips, a self-described professional polar adventurer. This will be the first time in space for the quartet.
After liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster landed on a SpaceX droneship in the Atlantic Ocean for reuse in future launches.
Named for the famous Norwegian polar exploration ship Fram, meaning “forward,” the Fram2 website says the team plans to view and photograph Earth’s polar regions from low-Earth orbit and conduct 22 experiments focused on “advancing human health and performance in space, particularly for future long-duration missions” including being the first mission to take x-rays of the human body in space, growing mushrooms in microgravity and studying atmospheric phenomena.
“After extensive training and dedication from our entire crew, we are honored to continue the legacy of the Fram name in an exciting era of commercial space exploration,” Wang said in a press release. “We are thankful for this opportunity, and we are grateful to SpaceX for making this mission a reality – we are excited to be the first crew to view and capture the Earth’s polar regions from low-Earth orbit and support important research to help advance humanity’s capabilities for long-duration space exploration.”
Mikkelsen, the mission’s vehicle commander, is a Norwegian film director and cinematographer specializing in next-generation technology for filming in hazardous and remote environments like the Earth’s poles.
Berlin-born Rogge, a robotics researcher, will serve as Fram2’s pilot, while Eric Philips, a professional polar adventurer and guide from Australia, will serve as Fram2’s mission specialist and medical officer.
The crew will observe Earth’s polar regions over 430 kilometers (267 miles) above the surface, allowing the Crew Dragon Resilience to travel from the North to the South Pole in under an hour. This route provides extensive coverage, enabling observation of areas and phenomena other missions cannot access.
Throughout Fram2’s time in orbit, the crew will take the first x-ray in space, perform exercise studies to maintain muscle and skeletal mass, and grow mushrooms in microgravity.
An exact landing date has not yet been announced, but the mission is expected to last nearly four days.
SpaceX says this will be the first west coast recovery of a Dragon crew. The capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the southern California coast. This is the fourth flight of this Dragon capsule.
