Columbia Activist Can Be Deported Over Beliefs, Rubio Says (1)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil should be deported because his presence in the United States harms the country’s foreign policy interests even if his beliefs and statements are “otherwise lawful.”

The US submitted a two-page memo from Rubio ahead of a deportation hearing Friday in Jena, Louisiana, where Khalil is being held, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which released the document Thursday. ACLU lawyers said they will ask the immigration judge conducting the hearing for a chance to question Rubio.

Mahmoud Khalil at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York on April 29, 2024.

Photographer: Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo

Khalil, who led anti-Israel protests as a Columbia graduate student, faces ...