An immigration judge judged on Friday that the militant of the University of Columbia, Mahmoud Khalil, could be expelled from the United States
The superb decision can have repercussions on other international students who have been targeted by the administration.
The judge gave Khalil lawyers for a deadline of April 23 to submit aid to stop his expulsion. The judge said that if they had not made the deadline, she would file a referral order to Syria or Algeria.
Mahmoud Khalil talks to the media members of the Rafah camp revolt at Columbia University during the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, New York, June 1, 2024.
Jeenah Moon / Reuters, file
Judge Jamee Comans noted that Khalil was removable under the under-secretary of the state Marco Rubio claiming that his presence and continuous actions in the country weigh “an unfavorable consequence of foreign policy”.
The hearing intervened after the judge gave the government a deadline earlier this week to present evidence to support several allegations which he made against Khalil as reasons for the expulsion of the United States, in particular that he distorted information on his request for a green card.
While a student at Columbia University, Khalil was part of a Protestant leadership group against the war in Gaza. Khalil participated in negotiations with school administrators demanding that the institution has reduced links with Israel and disinvesting from Israeli companies. Khalil completed his higher education in Columbia in December and is expected to graduate in the spring.
Khalil – A green card holder and a legal permanent resident married to an American citizen who is nine months pregnant – was arrested by immigration and customs application in his Columbia accommodation in March.
Thursday, the government concluded proof that a two-page memo signed by Rubio saying that he had found that Khalil’s presence in the United States “would compromise an imperative interest in American foreign policy”.
Khalil lawyers argued Thursday in a press conference that the government – which scored the letter and other documents in evidence on Wednesday – did not show that Khalil’s presence in the United States poses an unfavorable consequence to foreign policy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended a meeting from the Cabinet to the White House on April 10, 2025.
Nathan Howard / Reuters
The Government argued, under an obscure the 1952 federal law called the Immigration and Nationality Act, that it believes that migrants are expelled “if the Secretary of State has a reasonable reason to believe that the presence or activities of the foreigner in the United States would potentially seriously have the consequences of foreign policy for the United States.”
Khalil lawyers argued that determination is for a judge after the government has proven.
The note signed by Rubio also confirms that another person, whose name is expounded, should be expelled under the same law.
Rubio wrote that Khalil should be expelled because of his alleged role in “anti-Semitic demonstrations and disruptive activities, which promotes a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States”.
Marc Van der Hout, one of Khalil’s lawyers, criticized the note strongly at a zoom press conference on Thursday.
Rubio “talks about the activity of the first amendment to the United States and the effect on people in the United States, his” determination “has absolutely nothing to do with foreign policy,” said Van der Hout.
Khalil lawyers said the government had no evidence as to the alleged distorted information that Khalil made on his green card request.
