New York
Judge Expected to Rule Within Days on Moving Mahmoud Khalil’s Case From Louisiana

A Newark federal judge on Friday heard arguments on whether the case to free Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, should continue to play out in New Jersey or be transferred to Louisiana, a potentially more favorable venue for the government’s case.
The judge, Michael Farbiarz, did not make an immediate decision, but is expected to rule soon. Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident, was detained on March 8 at his New York City apartment, sent briefly to a New Jersey detention center and now has been held for nearly three weeks in a facility in Jena, La.
While Mr. Khalil’s lawyers are fighting for his freedom, the Trump administration is seeking to deport him, saying that he spread antisemitism through his involvement in the protests. If Mr. Khalil stays in Louisiana, his case could end up in one of America’s most conservative appeals courts. Those judges could decide whether the government’s rationale for detaining Mr. Khalil could be used in other cases.
The case was originally filed in New York, but a judge there decided he lacked jurisdiction and that it should be heard in New Jersey. The attempts by Mr. Khalil’s lawyers to free him have created a tangle of litigation, much of which has focused on a seemingly technical question: In which court should his case be heard?
On Friday in Newark, Baher Azmy, a lawyer for Mr. Khalil and legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, argued in court that transferring the case to Louisiana would set a precedent for other activists to be moved without legal justification, which he called “Kafkaesque.”
The government’s case against Mr. Khalil was undertaken “in order to retaliate against constitutionally protected speech,” Mr. Azmy said.
But a lawyer for the government, August E. Flentje, said it “made no good sense” for the case to be heard in New Jersey when Mr. Khalil had been arrested in New York, asserting that “the case belongs in Louisiana.”
Judge Farbiarz delayed ruling on a request from Mr. Khalil’s lawyers that he be granted bail, saying he first wanted to resolve the issue of where the case would be heard.
Mr. Khalil is one of at least nine protest participants who have been arrested and detained this month. Unlike some others, he is a legal resident, married to an American citizen who is expected to give birth next month.
He has not been charged with a crime. Instead, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has cited a rarely used law to explain Mr. Khalil’s detention, saying that the recent graduate threatens the Trump administration’s foreign policy goal of halting the spread of antisemitism.
Mr. Khalil’s lawyers initially asked for his release in New York federal court. But the judge there determined that it should be heard neither there, nor in Louisiana, but in New Jersey, where Mr. Khalil was being held at the moment his lawyers filed court papers. Accordingly, the case itself was transferred to New Jersey last week.
Once there, the government’s lawyers continued to fight to transfer the case to Louisiana. In a filing, they noted that Mr. Khalil had never filed a petition in New Jersey — and argued that the court had no jurisdiction.
The administration has reason to continue its fight. If the legal battle is waged in Louisiana, it is likely to make its way to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which from New Orleans presides over cases from that state.
The Fifth Circuit is known as one of the country’s most conservative, and in the past has sided with government officials over noncitizens. If its judges rule in favor of the Trump administration, Secretary Rubio could continue to cite the law used to justify the detention of Mr. Khalil in efforts to deport other legal permanent residents.
Friday’s hearing came days after a judge in Manhattan ordered the government to halt efforts to detain Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old Columbia student and legal permanent resident who had participated in pro-Palestinian protests. Ms. Chung, who shares a legal team with Mr. Khalil, was never detained by immigration authorities.
In an interview outside the courthouse after the hearing, Mr. Azmy noted the distinction between her case and Mr. Khalil’s.
“The fact that he’s in custody allows the government to have total control over him,” Mr. Azmy said.
As the hearing played out, around 50 demonstrators assembled outside the Newark courthouse to protest Mr. Khalil’s detention. They waved Palestinian flags, held signs and chanted.
“Hands off our students! ICE off our campus!” read one sign. “Opposing genocide does not mean supporting terrorism.”
Speaking at the rally, Amy Torres, executive director for the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, pointed to a chilling effect on free speech created by the detention of students across the country.
“They have only targeted people that they view to be voiceless,” she said, adding, “This is about this administration taking the issue that they believe is the least sympathetic, and making an example out of the people that they arrest.”
Jonah E. Bromwich contributed reporting.

New York
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New York
How NYC Neighborhoods Voted in the 2025 Mayoral Primary: Map

The candidate leading each neighborhood in the first round
Queens
Brooklyn
Bronx
Manhattan
Staten
Island
Zohran Mamdani, an upstart state assemblyman from Queens, was on the brink of winning Tuesday’s Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. While results were not yet final, Mr. Mamdani leaped ahead of a crowded field thanks to a surge of turnout in gentrifying neighborhoods, and strong support from Asian and Hispanic enclaves.
Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, also ran up large vote tallies in the affluent brownstone-lined blocks of Brooklyn, in the diverse blocks of Upper Manhattan and in areas with substantial South Asian populations in Queens.
His main rival, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, had hoped to reassemble Mayor Eric Adams’s winning 2021 coalition of Black, Hispanic and Orthodox Jewish voters, but instead lost ground in some of those communities.
Neighborhoods where Eric Adams won
The areas where the current mayor won in the 2021 Democratic primary are outlined.
Queens
Brooklyn
Bronx
Manhattan
Staten
Island
Mr. Mamdani, who campaigned on addressing New York’s affordability crisis, performed stronger than his rivals in areas where a majority of residents are college graduates, as well as in middle-income and higher-income neighborhoods. He won most areas with a majority of Asian residents and was modestly outpacing Mr. Cuomo in majority Hispanic areas.
Mr. Cuomo, 67, had more support in areas with a majority of Black residents and in areas where a majority of residents are low-income. There were some exceptions, most notably Mr. Cuomo’s strong performance on the Upper West and East Sides in Manhattan, where Mr. Mamdani struggled to win over an older, wealthier electorate, which includes a sizable segment of Jewish voters.
How candidates fared with groups of voters
Based on results in precincts where each group is a majority.
Precincts with… |
Andrew Cuomo |
Zohran Mamdani |
Brad Lander |
---|---|---|---|
Higher income residents
24% of precincts |
30% | 42% | 20% |
Middle income residents
49% of precincts |
37% | 47% | 7% |
Lower income residents 24% of precincts |
49% | 38% | 3% |
More college graduates
27% of precincts |
28% | 45% | 19% |
More white residents
29% of precincts |
34% | 39% | 19% |
More Hispanic residents
16% of precincts |
41% | 48% | 4% |
More Black residents
15% of precincts |
51% | 34% | 3% |
More Asian residents 4% of precincts |
36% | 52% | 5% |
More renters
70% of precincts |
33% | 47% | 11% |
Mr. Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, won the largest vote share in gentrifying neighborhoods like Ridgewood in Queens and Greenpoint in Brooklyn that are home to groups of young, left-leaning voters. Voters in Jamaica Hills, a Queens neighborhood home to a sizable South Asian population, also chose Mr. Mamdani by a large margin.
Mr. Cuomo’s efforts to court the Orthodox Jewish vote paid off. Borough Park and Midwood in Brooklyn were two of his top-performing neighborhoods. He also won large margins in the less dense, coastal communities of Far Rockaway and Bayswater in Queens, far from Manhattan.
Brad Lander, the city comptroller, was in third place overall. The cluster of neighborhoods in Brooklyn where Mr. Lander fared the best — which include Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Windsor Terrace — are all neighborhoods where Mr. Mamdani won most of the votes. That could ultimately benefit Mr. Mamdani under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, because the two men cross-endorsed each other and encouraged their supporters to rank them both.
The system allowed voters to list up to five candidates on their ballots. If their top choices are eliminated, their votes will be transferred to candidates who are lower on their ballots next Tuesday.
Each candidate’s top five neighborhoods by vote share
Zohran Mamdani
Neighborhood | Pct. | Votes |
---|---|---|
Ridgewood, Queens | 80% | 7,030 |
Bushwick, Brooklyn | 79% | 14,164 |
East Williamsburg, Brooklyn | 75% | 2,586 |
Jamaica Hills, Queens | 74% | 1,458 |
Greenpoint, Brooklyn | 72% | 7,583 |

Andrew Cuomo
Neighborhood | Pct. | Votes |
---|---|---|
Borough Park, Brooklyn | 80% | 6,577 |
Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn | 76% | 236 |
Midwood, Brooklyn | 72% | 9,160 |
Far Rockaway, Queens | 72% | 2,489 |
Bayswater, Queens | 72% | 522 |

Brad Lander
Neighborhood | Pct. | Votes |
---|---|---|
Park Slope, Brooklyn | 35% | 7,330 |
Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn | 34% | 1,689 |
Cobble Hill, Brooklyn | 32% | 1,199 |
Columbia St. Waterfront District, Brooklyn | 31% | 355 |
South Slope, Brooklyn | 30% | 632 |

Adrienne Adams
Neighborhood | Pct. | Votes |
---|---|---|
Springfield Gardens, Queens | 17% | 891 |
Laurelton, Queens | 16% | 506 |
St. Albans, Queens | 15% | 828 |
Jamaica, Queens | 14% | 1,381 |
Cambria Heights, Queens | 14% | 425 |
Assuming he prevails in the primary, Mr. Mamdani will face a general election in November that has the potential to be unusually competitive. Mr. Adams is seeking a second term, this time as an independent. Curtis Sliwa, a Republican, will be on the ballot, along with Jim Walden, a lawyer and independent. Mr. Cuomo also still has the option to pursue a third-party fall campaign.
New York
10 Questions With Brad Lander

Brad Lander took a risk last summer when he entered the New York City mayor’s race instead of running for a second term as comptroller.
But he was worried then, he says, about the city’s future under the leadership of Mayor Eric Adams — and later about the possibility that former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo would join the race, as he did.
He has run as an earnest technocrat with a stack of progressive plans. But he has not had the same momentum as Zohran Mamdani, who has risen in the polls and received the first-choice endorsement of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (She ranked Mr. Lander third.)
Ahead of the June 24 primary, the leading Democrats in the race visited The New York Times for interviews. We are publishing excerpts from those interviews, and this is the sixth in the series; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
We asked Mr. Lander, 55, questions about 10 themes, with the occasional follow-up, touching on his management of the city’s finances and the two good things he thinks Mr. Adams has done as mayor.
We’ve written previously about Mr. Lander’s plan to end street homelessness for people with severe mental illness, his criticism of Mr. Cuomo and how he seriously considered becoming a rabbi.
1. What’s the most important issue in the race: affordability, public safety, President Trump or something else?
In that order — affordability, public safety, Trump and then just cleaning up corruption and making the city run better. But I’ll put affordability first. That is what’s pushing people out of New York.
2. Who was the best New York City mayor in your lifetime?
The best New York City mayor ever was Fiorello La Guardia, and he was not in my lifetime. Alas, I wish he had been.
The mayors in my lifetime have done great things, but I hesitate to say which one. If you want the mayor who managed the city best — picked up the garbage, made the city function well — Mike Bloomberg certainly did that the best. But the gap in seeing how much income inequality was growing, and stop and frisk, were real.
The best single accomplishment of any mayor is universal prekindergarten, which has been incredible and life-changing for a lot of families, but there were a lot of other issues in the de Blasio administration.
3. Should the Elizabeth Street Garden in Manhattan be closed to build affordable housing?
Yes.
4. What’s one issue in politics that you’ve changed your mind about?
I’m pleased to say I’m open to admitting when I get things wrong.
We did some research on Hudson Yards. I had put some things out when I was the director of the Pratt Center for Community Development that I thought the city was going to get screwed, basically, and not benefit financially. I thought it was all for the developer.
My team in the comptroller’s office did some research, then came to the office and showed me: We’re making between $200 million and $300 million a year. We published it. I put a cover note on that said: “I got this wrong. The research says this is actually working for New York City.”
5. There have been questions about where Mayor Eric Adams lives. Where do you live?
I live on 13th Street in Park Slope.
How much is your rent or mortgage?
Our mortgage is $3,300 a month.
Do you own a car?
We do own a car.
What model?
We have a Toyota Prius.
How often do you take the subway or bus?
I take the subway or bus a couple of times a week.
6. What do you consider yourself when it comes to your finances, growing up and now? Middle-class? Upper-middle-class?
My mom was a public elementary school guidance counselor. My dad was a legal services lawyer and then a private-sector lawyer. We grew up middle-class.
I would say we, my wife and I, are upper-middle-class. We made the very fortunate decision to buy a co-op in brownstone Brooklyn for $125,000 in 1996, and that is why we’ve been able to raise our family. We sold it, and then bought our rowhouse on 13th Street, and that has enabled us to live in a neighborhood that we couldn’t afford now, if we hadn’t bought then.
7. Mayor Adams has said that you’re not investing in Israel as comptroller and criticized your management of the city’s pension funds. Why?
I mean, Eric Adams lies every day and twice on Tuesdays — probably more than that, honestly.
Investments in Israel have grown on my watch, so it’s just a lie. And our pension performance — you can look at it. We’re actually the first to publish it online. They’re right out there for everyone to see.
Why do you think the mayor has targeted you?
I do my job. The job of city comptroller, in addition to managing those pension funds well, is oversight of the mayor — is to be a watchdog, and I have been a good watchdog.
We worked to cancel that $432 million DocGo contract. [Mr. Lander criticized the city’s decision in 2023 to grant DocGo, a medical services company, a no-bid contract to help care for an influx of migrants.] Our audits have been hard-hitting in all kinds of places.
I went early on to him and said: “Let’s find some things to work together on. Let’s try to have a strategy for what to do when it’s my job to say ‘This contract stinks’ or ‘This agency isn’t getting its job done.’”
And he smiled, like he does, but not one time have they been willing to work with us to fix something that’s broken.
8. What’s one good thing that Mayor Adams has done?
I’ll give him two.
NYC Reads — the focus on literacy, phonics education, kids with dyslexia. A lot more to do there. There’s only two of those structured literacy schools. I think there should be one in every district, but it’s a good start.
And trash containerization. It shouldn’t have taken us so long to put lids on the trash cans. There’s a long way to go there as well. And probably Jessie Tisch gets more credit than Eric. But a big part of the job of mayor is hiring good people. He has hired a lot of bad people, but he’s hired some good people as well.
There’s going to be a couple of big mayoral priorities that I’m going to deliver — ending street homelessness, building a lot of affordable housing, expanding child care and after-school — and then my commissioners and deputy mayors are going to do a whole bunch of great things we haven’t thought about yet. That’s what happens when you hire really good people and have their backs.
9. What’s your bagel order?
My bagel order is an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese, a slice of tomato and lox.
Toasted or not toasted?
Not toasted.
10. What’s the last TV show you binged?
We’re watching “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.”
I haven’t heard of that one.
Should I pick something that people have heard of? The thing I’ve seen that people should watch is the “Station Eleven” mini-series on HBO. That is like the best thing ever on television. “Watchmen” is a close second.
Jeffery C. Mays contributed reporting.
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