A judge ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and legal US resident, can be deported. This decision follows his arrest last month for participation in a pro-Palestinian protest.
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans issued the ruling, granting Khalil's attorneys until April 23rd to appeal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued for Khalil's deportation, citing involvement in "anti-Semitic protests." Khalil's attorneys contend the deportation is a violation of his right to free speech and due process.
Comans' ruling allows the Trump administration to proceed with deportation to either Syria (Khalil's birthplace) or Algeria (where he holds citizenship). The ruling was made at a Louisiana detention center where Khalil is being held. The judge stated she lacked the authority to question Rubio's decision.
Khalil's attorneys plan to appeal, arguing that he was subject to a “charade of due process” and that immigration laws were weaponized to suppress dissent. A separate federal case in New Jersey will examine the legality of Khalil's arrest and detention, where his free speech and due process claims will be argued. A judge in that case has already stated Khalil should remain in the US.
The Trump administration's actions are not isolated, with Rubio indicating 300 student visas were revoked. Several state attorneys general are challenging these revocations as “unjustified and unconstitutional.” The deportation decision stems from the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952, allowing deportation if an immigrant's presence could have serious foreign policy consequences.
A judge ruled Friday that Columbia University graduate student and legal U.S. resident Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, according to multiple outlets, issuing the ruling a little over a month after Khalil was arrested for his involvement in a pro-Palestinian protest on campus last year.
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans said the Trump administration can move forward with its deportation case against Khalil, giving Khalil’s attorneys until April 23 to appeal the ruling, NPR reported.
Comans made the ruling in Louisiana, at a detention center where Khalil has been held since he was detained.
Comans will order Khalil deported to Syria, his birthplace, or Algeria, where he has citizenship if Khalil’s attorneys do not file an appeal by the deadline.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued Khalil can be deported over his involvement in "anti-Semitic protests and disruptive activities," according to a memo reviewed by multiple outlets, saying keeping Khalil in the U.S. would create a “hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”
Comans said Friday she did not have the authority to question Rubio’s decision to deport Khalil.
Khalil’s attorneys said in a statement it will continue to seek bail for and combat the deportation of the Columbia student, adding he was “subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent.”
Khalil has not been charged with a crime and the memo from Rubio did not accuse him of criminal conduct.
“If Mahmoud can be targeted in this way, simply for speaking out for Palestinians and exercising his constitutionally protected right to free speech, this can happen to anyone over any issue the Trump administration dislikes,” Khalil’s attorneys said in their statement.
Khalil has a separate federal case in New Jersey to determine whether he should have been arrested and detained. He has a better chance at a more comprehensive hearing in New Jersey, The New York Times reported, noting his attorneys’ free speech and due process arguments will be heard there. So far, the judge in that case has said Khalil should remain in the U.S.
The Trump administration has targeted several other international students in addition to Khalil, with Rubio saying last month some 300 visas were revoked from students—many of whom participated in pro-Palestinian activity, according to the BBC. Nineteen state attorneys general are asking a judge to order a stop to the visa revocations. California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the revocations “unjustified and unconstitutional” in a statement Friday.
Khalil was arrested by plainclothes immigration officers at Columbia on March 8 and told his visa had been revoked. His attorneys later said the authorities gave Khalil no reason for the revocation of his visa. The White House justified Khalil’s arrest under the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952, a Cold War-era law allowing the secretary of state to mark someone as deportable if they have “reasonable ground to believe” the immigrant’s “presence or activities in the U.S. … would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Legal experts have said the obscure law has rarely been used in past immigration cases. Much of the Trump administration’s arguments against Khalil center around his involvement as a leader behind pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia’s campus last year, with President Donald Trump claiming he is “a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student.” Khalil’s attorneys have insisted he was legally speaking out in support of Palestinian rights.
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