Columbia Activist’s Deportation Ordered by Judge, Lawyers Say

An immigration judge ruled Friday that Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil should be deported because his presence in the US harms the country’s foreign policy interests, his lawyers said in a statement.

The judge ruled in Jena, Louisiana, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a memo that Khalil should be deported even if his beliefs and statements are “otherwise lawful.” Khalil, who led anti-Israel protests as a Columbia graduate student, has emerged as a symbol of the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus protests over Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

Mahmoud Khalil

Photographer: Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo

Khalil, who was arrested March 8, says his detention violates his constitutional rights to free speech and due process.

“Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent,” Marc Van Der Hout, one of his lawyers, said in a statement. “If Mahmoud can be targeted in this way, simply for speaking out for Palestinians and exercising his constitutionally protected right to free speech, this can happen to anyone over any issue the Trump administration dislikes.”

New Jersey Case

Khalil still has a pending case in federal court in New Jersey, where he is seeking bail and an order blocking his deportation. His lawyers are challenging the right of the administration to detain noncitizens who speak in support Palestinian rights.

In his two-page memo, Rubio said Khalil’s presence in the US “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” a determination based on his “past, current, or expected beliefs, statements or associations that are otherwise lawful.”

Marco Rubio

Photographer: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg

Rubio said Khalil had participated in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students,” and those actions “undermine US policy to combat antisemitism.”

President Donald Trump says Columbia must deal more forcefully with antisemitism on campus, and he’s cut off $400 million in federal funding. The administration has also paused federal funding to other universities, including Cornell, Northwestern and Princeton, while threatening $9 billion in grants and contracts at Harvard.

The US arrested Khalil on March 8 and revoked his lawful permanent resident status, moving him from Manhattan to New Jersey to Louisiana within a day.

Student Protests

Columbia was the site of prolonged student protests after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, which killed 1,200 people. The US labels Hamas a terrorist organization. Israel’s retaliation against Gaza and Hamas has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Trump is considering entering into a legal agreement that would give a federal judge oversight of Columbia’s enactment of measures to combat antisemitism.

The US has also revoked the visas of other international students who have protested Israel’s actions.

To contact the reporter on this story:
David Voreacos in New York at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth

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