Louisiana Immigration Judge Says Pro-Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported

An immigration judge in Louisiana has decided that Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist, can be deported as a national security risk, the Associated Press reported Friday. Khalil was arrested by immigration officials last month as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on student protesters it claims support Hamas.

Judge Jamee Comans had given the federal government until Wednesday evening to provide evidence to support why Khalil should be deported, saying she would “terminate” the case if it failed to do so.

An attorney for the Department of Homeland Security submitted a brief memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing that Section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes him to personally deport people if he believes their presence “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

While Rubio acknowledged that Khalil’s activities were “otherwise lawful,” he argued that letting him remain in the country would undermine 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.”

“Condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” Rubio wrote in the undated memo.

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Khalil, an Algerian of Palestinian ancestry who received his master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University last year, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on March 8 at his university-owned apartment in Manhattan, where he and his pregnant wife live, according to his lawyer.

The 30-year-old, who holds a U.S. permanent residency green card, was transferred to an ICE processing facility in central Louisiana.

Khalil had served as a negotiator for Columbia University students involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations that followed the Israeli military’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel by Hamas militants. Khalil bargained with university officials over winding down a tent encampment on campus while pressuring the college to divest itself from Israel.

The role made him one of the most visible pro-Palestinian activists at Columbia and prompted pro-Israel activists to call for his deportation.

Khalil was the first known student protester to be targeted for deportation by the Trump administration.

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