Immigrations authorities will initiate the process to remove Mahmoud Khalil from the country following the court's decision. The appropriate steps for his forced departure will commence soon.
Immigration Judge Orders Deportation of Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil
Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and former Columbia University student, is facing the growing threat of deportation after an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that he should be deported for failing to disclose information on his green card application.
The decision by Judge Jamee Comans builds on her previous order issued in April, which found Khalil could be forced out of the country as a national security risk. However, the federal government is currently prohibited from removing Khalil under a June 11 order from a federal judge in New Jersey.
Khalil maintains that any omissions on the application were unintentional. In her latest decision, Comans found that Khalil had "willfully misrepresented" facts about his background on his common app.
Khalil was arrested inside his campus apartment building this past March and accused by the Trump administration of supporting "pro-Hamas" activity. He has repeatedly denied the charge and the federal government has not provided evidence for it.
Khalil has argued that he is being targeted for exercising his free speech, pointing to a memo by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that justified his arrest on the grounds that his pro-Palestinian beliefs could undermine U.S. foreign policy interests.
Born in a refugee camp in Syria to a Palestinian family, Khalil maintains citizenship through a distant relative in Algeria. He fled Syria for Lebanon in 2013 after joining protests against then-President Bashar al-Assad. Khalil was a prominent figure in protests at Columbia University against the war in Gaza, which spread to campuses nationwide.
If Khalil loses his appeal, he would be stripped of his permanent residency status and potentially deported to Algeria or Syria. His wife is a U.S. citizen, and his 5-month-old son was born while Khalil was in federal custody. Khalil's family has roots in Tiberias but were displaced during the mass expulsion of Palestinians from what is now Israel.
Khalil's attorneys plan to appeal the decision. In addition, Khalil is currently suing the Trump administration for $20 million in damages. He has said he will continue advocating for Palestinians as his legal battle plays out.
The federal appeals court with jurisdiction over the case is reliably conservative, which may impact Khalil's chances of success in his appeal. The search results do not contain information about the citizenship state related to the immigration judge's deportation decision concerning Mahmoud Khalil in Louisiana.
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