U.S. Judge Rules Columbia Student Khalil Can Be Deported Over Pro-Palestinian Activism |LAGOS EYE NEWS

A U.S. immigration judge has ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and prominent pro-Palestinian activist, can be deported following a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Khalil’s activism was antisemitic and contrary to U.S. foreign policy.

Khalil, 30, a lawful permanent resident with a green card, was arrested on March 8 at his university-owned apartment in New York City, where he lives with his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen. He has since been detained at the Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana.

During a hearing at the remote facility, Judge Jamee Comans stated she had no authority to challenge Secretary Rubio’s decision, which invokes the McCarran-Walter Act — a Cold War-era federal law rarely used in modern times. The statute grants the secretary of state sweeping powers to order deportation if a noncitizen’s presence is deemed to threaten U.S. foreign policy objectives.

In court, Khalil criticized the ruling, stating: “I would like to quote what you said last time — that there’s nothing more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness. Clearly, what we witnessed today reflected neither of those principles.”

He added, “This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family. I just hope the urgency you deemed fit for me is afforded to the hundreds of others who have been here without hearings for months.”

Despite the ruling, Khalil will not be immediately deported. His legal team intends to appeal, and Judge Comans granted him until April 23 to request a stay of deportation. Should that deadline pass without action, Khalil could be removed either to Syria, where he was born, or Algeria, where he holds citizenship.

One of Khalil’s attorneys, Marc Van Der Hout, warned of the broader implications of the case: “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.”

The Trump administration has presented Khalil’s case as part of its broader crackdown on what it terms “antisemitic extremism” on U.S. campuses. Critics, however, argue the move represents a dangerous suppression of political dissent.