An immigration judge ruled that the spokesman for Columbia University student protesters, can be deported by the Trump administration.
Mahmoud Khalil hearing: See video of activity outside
Scenes outside the hearing of detained Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil at U.S. District Court in Newark on Friday, March 28, 2025.
- The Trump administration has argued it has the right to remove noncitizens.
- Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian, has not been accused of any crime, but the administration argues his presence has “adverse foreign policy consequences.”
A U.S. immigration judge in Louisiana ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can move forward with efforts to deport Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil.
But the fate of the pro-Palestinian activist remains unclear with legal rounds still to be fought, including in a lawsuit filed by Khalil in New Jersey.
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans announced the decision in the LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana, according to Reuters. The ruling hands President Donald Trump an early victory in his attempts to crack down on critics of Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
The administration has said protests last spring created a threatening environment for Jewish students on campus while Khalil’s attorneys say his actions were protected by the U.S. Constitution’s free-speech guarantees.
Khalil, 30, was arrested March 8 in the lobby of his student apartment building in New York City. The Syrian-born Palestinian, a legal U.S. resident, has not been accused of any crime, but the Trump Administration has moved to deport him arguing his presence has “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the United States.
Khalil is currently being held at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Facility in Jena. But he also has a suit pending in federal court in New Jersey, where he was held for a few hours at an immigrant detention center in Elizabeth before being transferred south.
The American Civil Liberties Union, one of the legal groups representing Khalil, said in a statement after the hearing that the judge’s decision appeared to be “pre-written.” The judge gave Khalil’s attorneys until April 23 to seek a waiver to stop his deportation.
Khalil addressed Judge Comans at the end of the hearing, saying “I would like to quote what you said last time that there’s nothing that’s more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness,” according to an ACLU statement. “Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process.
“This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family. I just hope that the urgency that you deemed fit for me are afforded to the hundreds of others who have been here without hearing for months.”
His lawsuit argues the detention violates his rights to free speech and due process, and that his case should be heard in the Garden State. The government tried to get the case moved to Louisiana, where it would be heard by a more conservative judiciary, but a federal court rejected that bid.
The Trump administration has argued it has the right to remove noncitizens under the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act. Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleged in a recent letter that Khalil participated in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities” at Columbia that “undermine U.S. efforts to combat anti-Semitism.”
The administration has sought to remove other critics of Israel’s fight against the terrorist organization Hamas. Khalil had served as a spokesman for protesters on the Columbia campus opposed to Israel’s military operations in Gaza, which were a response to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack in which more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. Protesters have been outraged that the response left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and wounded.
Khalil’s lawyers say their client was engaging in constitutionally protected activity.
This story includes information from Reuters.
Reach Ricardo Kaulessar at [email protected] or Twitter/X: @ricardokaul