Mahmoud Khalil, the recent Columbia University graduate who the Trump administration says has terror ties, can be deported for his involvement in anti-Israel protests on the Ivy League school campus, a federal immigration judge ruled Friday.
During a two hour hearing on Friday, Jamee Comans, an assistant chief immigration judge in Louisiana, said that the government had “established by clear and convincing evidence that Khalil is removable,” the New York Post reported.
Khalil asked to speak to Comans at the end of the hearing, arguing that he had not been given “due process and fundamental fairness,” per the Post.
“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” Khalil stated at the hearing.“This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family.”
Khalil’s lawyers could challenge the ruling before a final determination is made, and a federal judge in New Jersey is reviewing whether his arrest and detention were lawful. The latter judge had opted to wait and see what happened in the immigration court.
Federal agents arrested Khalil, who was born in Syria and has ties to Algeria, on March 8. He is being held at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, La.
The recent Columbia graduate holds a green card and is reportedly married to a U.S. citizen. The Trump administration has said that he led anti-Israel protests on Columbia’s campus, and the White House said that he has supported Hamas, which would be grounds for his deportation.
On Wednesday, the government filed a two-page memo from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing that Khalil should be deported for his participation “in antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”
The filing noted that Khalil’s presence in the country would undermine the government’s ability to “combat antisemitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.”
“Mahmoud Khalil hates the United States and what we stand for—so his removal should come as welcome news,” stated Kristi Noem, the U.S. secretary of homeland security.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country,” Noem said. “Good riddance.”