Immigration judge orders Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil deported
Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia grad student who became a lightning rod over pro-Palestinian protests on campus, is now one step closer to being deported.
A U.S. immigration judge denied Khalil’s motion for a waiver preventing his removal from the U.S. and ordered that he be deported to either Algeria or his native Syria. The ruling comes after the judge said Khalil omitted information on his green card application.
The judge found Khalil failed to disclose an internship with the UN Relief and Works Agency and did not mention his role in “Apartheid Divest,” an anti-Israel group at Columbia.
While he has legal permanent residency, the government argues his omissions raise national security and foreign policy concerns.
Khalil’s previous arrest
The news comes after plainclothes immigration officials arrested Khalil on March 8 at his apartment in Manhattan. The Trump administration accused the 30-year-old of being a “pro-Hamas sympathizer.”
They claimed he participated in pro-Palestinian protests and campus encampments at Columbia in 2024, saying he posed a national security threat.
Khalil was detained for more than 100 days. He was released in June when a judge ruled he wasn’t a flight risk or a danger to the public.
The ruling stated that Khalil is a legal U.S. resident. Additionally, it stated that the U.S. cannot deport or detain Khalil due to foreign policy reasons.
Khalil attorneys plan to fight latest ruling
Since the new ruling came down, Khalil’s lawyers said they intend to appeal the deportation order.
According to NBC, his attorneys sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, the Biden-appointed judge presiding over Khalil’s habeas corpus petition case in federal court in New Jersey. In the letter, Khalil’s attorneys said, “The only meaningful impediment to Petitioner’s physical removal from the United States would be this Court’s important order prohibiting removal during the pendency of his federal habeas case.”
Farbiarz previously blocked the Trump administration from deporting Khalil. However, the government continued to pursue his removal.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
