A US immigration judge ruled on Friday that Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University, can be deported because his beliefs threaten national security.
Judge Jamee Comans said the government provided sufficient evidence, citing a letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that Khalil’s activism could harm US foreign policy — even if his speech and activism were “otherwise lawful.”
Addressing the court, Khalil quoted Comans’ earlier assertion that lawfully nothing was more important than due process and fairness.
“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” Khalil said. “This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, a thousand miles away from my family.”
Weaponizing immigration law to silence dissent, say lawyers
Khalil, a permanent US resident and vocal pro-Palestinian activist, was arrested March 8, becoming the first student detained under US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Gaza war protesters.
He was flown to a detention center in Jena, Louisiana, the next day, away from his legal team and his pregnant wife, who is a US citizen.
Khalil, an Algerian national born to Palestinian parents and raised in Syria, hasn’t been charged with any crimes.
However, the Trump administration claims non-citizens participating in anti-Gaza war protests are antisemitic or “pro- Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU, and Israel, among others.
The White House accused Khalil of “siding with terrorists” but did not provide any evidence to back this claim.
Khalil’s lawyer, Marc Van Der Hout, called the ruling a “charade of due process” and accused the administration of weaponizing immigration law to silence dissent. His lawyers said they plan to appeal Friday’s decision.
Meanwhile, federal judges in New York and New Jersey blocked Khalil’s deportation while reviewing his claim that the arrest violated his First Amendment rights for freedom of speech.
Government targeting pro-Palestinian student protesters
A wave of pro-Palestinian student protests across campuses swept through the US last year.
Students called the demonstrations to protest academic and government support for Israel amid its ground offensive in Gaza. Hundreds of people were taken into police custody.
Some Jewish students and faculty complained about being harassed during the demonstrations or feeling ostracized because of their faith or their support for Israel.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration has revoked the visas of “maybe more than 300” people allegedly tied to pro-Palestinian university protests.
Meanwhile, Khalil’s case has drawn national attention, with critics warning of violations of the right to free speech.
Ramya Krishman, a senior staff attorney at Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute, said that the government has unleashed a campaign of terror on immigrants.
“And it seems that no one is safe,” Krishman said.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery, Roshni Majumdar
