An immigration judge in Louisiana ordered Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil to be deported to Syria or Algeria for failing to disclose certain information on his green card application, multiple media outlets reported.
Khalil is a former Columbia University graduate student whose case has been at the center of the Trump administration's crackdown on noncitizens leading campus protests of Israel's military operation against Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Khalil, whose wife is a U.S. citizen, was arrested in March by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at his apartment building in New York City and released in June. The Trump administration vowed to deport him using a rarely used provision in immigration law that allows for noncitizens to be deported if their presence in the U.S. compromises foreign policy.
Immigration Judge Jamee Comans ruled Friday that Khalil was deportable and not eligible for a waiver granting special relief. Comans said it didn't appear the law on its face allows a waiver. Even if it did, she wrote that Khalil shouldn't qualify because to do so would reward his "fraud" in applying for a green card by failing to disclose a history with pro-Palestinian groups, The Washington Times reported Wednesday.
Comans wrote that Khalil is an Ivy League-educated man who understood the nature of his omissions on his application.
"This court cannot and will not condone such an action by granting a discretionary waiver," she wrote, according to the Times.
Comans acknowledged Khalil's "positive equities" — particularly a U.S. citizen wife and infant son he gained during his three years living here. But Comans also said that was a normal hardship for immigrants facing deportation, not the kind of extraordinary one that would deserve a waiver from the law.
Comans also said Khalil has been in the U.S. only since December 2022, when he came on a student visa; that he lacks a work history and presented no evidence of business or property ties; and that he has only "conditional lawful permanent resident" status right now.
Comans' order came despite a separate order in Khalil's federal case in New Jersey blocking his deportation while that court considers Khalil's legal argument that his detention and deportation are unlawful retaliation for his Palestinian advocacy.
In a letter Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz — an appointee of former President Joe Biden who is overseeing Khalil's case in New Jersey — Khalil's legal team said it has 30 days from Friday to appeal Comans' decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals, Politico reported.
The attorneys said they expect that process to be "swift" and that an appeal of the board's decision — which would go to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans — is unlikely to succeed because the appeals court "almost never" grants stays of removal to noncitizens.
"As a result," they wrote, "the only meaningful impediment to Petitioner's physical removal from the United States would be this Court's important order prohibiting removal during the pendency of his federal habeas case." Also, they added, "nothing would preserve his lawful permanent resident status."
In a statement, Khalil, a Palestinian originally from Syria, accused the Trump administration of using "fascist tactics," according to Politico.
"It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech," he said. "Their latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.