BREAKING: A federal court has ordered the release of Mahmoud Khalil if the government doesn’t appeal by Friday morning, dealing a major setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to detain and deport non-citizens over protected speech. The court had already ruled that Khalil was being targeted under a likely unconstitutionally vague law that let Secretary of State Marco Rubio decide, on a whim, that a non-citizen’s presence in the U.S. “would compromise a compelling United States foreign policy interest.” The idea that a college student’s peaceful participation in pro-Palestinian protests could qualify was always far-fetched. The court recognized Khalil had no way of knowing his speech could get him deported. And the government produced no evidence that Khalil engaged in any violent or unlawful activity. The court today rejected the government’s backup claim — that Khalil left out information in his green card application — concluding it was just a cover to deport him for other reasons. Expert evidence submitted to the court, and never rebutted by the Trump administration, established that lawful permanent residents are almost never detained for such omissions. The court’s ruling confirms what many long suspected: Khalil was targeted not for his actions, but for his opinions.