Jena, Louisiana — An immigration judge in Louisiana on Friday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its effort to deport Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, upholding one of the deportation grounds cited by the government.
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans ruled that the administration’s determination that Khalil poses “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the U.S. is “facially reasonable” and makes Khalil deportable.
The judge gave Khalil’s lawyers until April 23 to file applications for relief to stop his deportation to Syria or Algeria on this ground. Khalil was born in Syria but is a citizen of Algeria, according to court documents.
Comans held in abeyance the second deportation ground cited by the Trump administration: a claim that Khalil committed immigration fraud because he allegedly omitted information about his work history in his green card application.
Comans made the determinations Friday afternoon, inside the courtroom of the privately operated U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Jena where Khalil has been held for weeks.
Khalil, a vocal member of the protests at Columbia University over the war in Gaza, was arrested in early March by ICE, outside of his New York City apartment, where he lived with his pregnant U.S. citizen wife.
After Comans issued her ruling, Khalil, attired in a blue uniform and sandals, asked to be allowed to give remarks.
Khalil noted that the judge had previously talked about “due process and fundamental fairness,” and the former Columbia student said those principles were not followed in his case.
Khalil said the Trump administration shipped him “1,000 miles away” from his family. He concluded by telling the judge that the cases of other migrants detained here at the ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana should also be addressed with urgency.
After the hearing, Marc van der Hout, an attorney for Khalil, said in a statement, “Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud 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. This is not over, and our fight continues.”
“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,” van der Hout added.
The government hasn’t charged Khalil with any crime, but it has argued in immigration court that he should be stripped of his green card and deported on two civil immigration grounds.
The Trump administration has invoked a rarely used provision of immigration law that allows the government to seek the deportation of noncitizens whose “presence or activities” are determined to “have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
Faced with a deadline this week to provide evidence against Khalil, the Department of Homeland Security filed a memorandum by Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlining the foreign policy rationale.
Rubio cited no specific evidence against Khalil, a 30-year-old legal permanent resident whose American citizen wife is in the late stages of pregnancy. But he said Khalil’s presence in the country undermines “U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.”
The Trump government has separately alleged that Khalil committed immigration fraud by failing to disclose certain information in his green card application, including his work for the British Embassy in Beirut and the United Nations agency for Palestinian migrants and refugees.
Khalil’s attorneys harshly criticized Rubio’s memo and the government’s case against Khalil. They claim the government is violating Khalil’s right to free speech.
“If the secretary of state claims the power to arrest, detain and deport someone, including a lawful permanent resident, simply because that person dissents from U.S. foreign policy, there are no limits. There’s no beginning and no end to that kind of executive power,” said Johnny Sinodis, an attorney for Khalil’s immigration case, on Thursday.
Khalil has separately sued the government over his arrest, detention and the effort to deport him. That case, in federal court in New Jersey, seeks an order that would require Khalil’s release and the rescinding of the Rubio determination. It also asks a judge to prohibit the Trump administration from targeting noncitizens “who engage in constitutionally protected expressive activity in the United States in support of Palestinian rights or critical of Israel.”
contributed to this report.
