Can Mahmoud Khalil be deported?

U.S. immigration judge may issue ruling Friday [04/11/2025]

By: Hannan Adely
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... An immigration judge in Louisiana may rule Friday [04/11/2025] on whether Columbia University Student Mahmoud Khalil, targeted for deportation over this involvement in pro-Palestinian protests, can be remove from the country.
..... Assistant Chief Immigration Judge James Comans said the U.S. government had until Wednesday [04/09/2025] night to show evidence that he should be deported, Reuters reported.
..... "If he's removable, I'm going to be terminating the case on Friday," [04/11/2025] Comans said during a hearing at the La Salle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana.
..... Khalil has a related lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court for the district of New jersey alleging that his detention violates his civil rights, including the right to free speech and due process.
..... Khalil was arrested on March 8 [2025] in the lobby of his student apartment building in New York City. he was returning from iftar, the fast-breaking meal during Ramadan, with his wife, Noor Addalla, a U.S. citizen who is due to give birth to their first child this month. [04/2025]
..... Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told him his green card was revoked. They kept Khalil at the Elizabeth Detention Facility for several hours before transferring him to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Facility.
..... If the immigration court judge finds Khalil to be removable at the hearing on Friday, [04/11/2025] his legal team could petition that he is eligible for an exception to that ruling under immigration law. If she finds that he is not removable, his case would be dismissed, although the government may choose to appeal.
..... "There's nothing more important this court than Mr. Khalil's due process rights," Comans told Khalil's attorney, Mare Van Der Hout, after he asked for more time to review the government;s evidence. "I'm also not going to keep Mr. Khalil detained while attorneys go back and forth about documents."
...... Because he is a green card holder, the government is required to present charges and evidence for his removal, Van Der Hout said he was concerned the judge would rule without giving the defense time to respond to the government's case.

US revoking visas

..... On April 1, [2025] Judge Michael Farbiarz blocked the Trump administration's attempt to transfer his lawsuit out of New Jersey and to Western District of Louisiana, where appeals would be heard in one of the nation's most conservative courts.
..... In that case, Khalil's lawyers are also challenging the Trump administration's invocation of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act to justify his detention and deportation. The rarely-used legal provision states that the Security of State can move on deport any non-citizen whose presence "would have potentially serious adverts foreign policy consequences for the United States."
..... The Trump administration is using the provision to revoke the visas and green cards of non-citizens who have engaged in speech in support of Palestinian rights they argue, and thus are infringing on their constitutional rights to punish view that Trump officials oppose.
..... Khalil, a Palestinian born in a refugee camp in Syria, was a spokesperson and negotiator last year [2024] for pro-Palestinian demonstrators against war in Gaza at Columbia University in Manhattan.
..... The case before U.S. district Court in New Jersey would continue regardless of the ruling in immigration court on Friday. [04/11/2025] the outcome of his case could set a precedent on the civil rights of non-citizens, as the administration ramps up its efforts to detain and deport visa and green card holders over Pro-Palestinina speech.
..... President Donald Trump has equated pro-Palestinian speech and prot4ext activity with antisemitism and support for terrorism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that officials can revoke visas of people engaged in activism counter to foreign policy or national interest.
..... On Wednesday, [04/09/2025] U.S.. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced in a news release that it will begin screening social media for "antisemitic activity" to block immigration benefits. The announcement didn't indicate how antisemitism would be defined, including criticism of Israel or its siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
..... But USCIA has already targeted students for deportation, according to news reports and officials' claims, for participating in protests, writing an op-ed in support of diversity from Israeli companies, and for pro-Palestinian social media posts.

..... This story contains material form Reuters.

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