Transfer would probably bring New York-based Palestinian activist’s case before Trump-appointed judge

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Federal prosecutors are pushing to move the New York-based Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation challenge to Louisiana, in a move his lawyers describe as an attempt to silence political dissent.

The government filed documents requesting that Judge Jesse Furman either dismiss Khalil’s habeas petition outright or transfer it to the western district of Louisiana, where pro-Republican cases are almost guaranteed to reach Trump-appointed judges.