US: Immigration Judge rules Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil can be deported

On Friday, Judge Jamee Comans ruled Khalil can be deported as the US government met its burden of proof to deport him. "I would like to quote what you said last time that there's nothing that's more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness," Khalil told the court.

He said, "Clearly, what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process." Khalil expressed hope that the urgency deemed fit for him by the judge is afforded to hundreds of others who have been there without hearing for months.

He said, "This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family. I just hope that the urgency that you deemed fit for me is afforded to the hundreds of others who have been here without hearing for months." His lawyers can file relief applications until April 23.

During the hearing on Friday, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorney spoke about how Khalil misrepresented himself on his green card application and was not upfront about some of the organisations he was engaged with.

They said Khalil willingly did not reveal his employment with the Syrian office in the UK Embassy in Beirut when he applied for permanent US residency. Federal officials alleged that Khalil was "inadmissible at the time of his adjustment" due to "fraud or willful misrepresentation of material fact" in his status application.

The agency accused Khalil of not revealing his work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest.

After the judge's decision, Khalil's immigration lawyer, Sabrine Mohamah, termed the decision "unjust and alarming." She said, "This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and a dangerous precedent for anyone who believes in free speech and political expression," Fox News reported.

Mahmood is currently imprisoned in Louisiana, a state that detains over 7,000 people everyday and serves as the second-largest hub for immigration detention in the US. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Khalil "hates America."

She said, "It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country."

On Tuesday, Comans directed the federal government to give evidence by Wednesday justifying its decision to deport Khalil. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded on behalf of the government in a roughly one-and-a-half-page letter sent to the court on Wednesday. He mentioned a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil's deportation from the US.

The provision enables the US Secretary of State to deport noncitizens if the secretary considers their presence in the US "would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences." Rubio accused Khalil of being part of "antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States."

He wrote, "Condoning antisemitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective," Fox News reported.

Meanwhile, Khalil's lawyers have called the government's detention of Columbia University student "extraordinary and unprecedented" and that the scope of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 is "breathtaking."

They wrote, "President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio could apply it to any speech supporting Palestinian rights by any noncitizen. And the policy provides no standards or notice as to what specific statements might subject noncitizens to this unprecedented determination." They argued that deportation, if pursued, would cause a "chilling effect on political debate," the report said.

The anti-Israel protests wreaked havoc in US colleges that erupted following the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, leading to US President Donald Trump's campaign promise to revoke foreigners' student visas.