❓WHAT HAPPENED: A federal immigration judge ordered Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student, to be deported to either Algeria or Syria due to alleged misrepresentations on his green card application.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Mahmoud Khalil, Judge Jamee Comans, and the Trump administration.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The ruling was issued last week by a Louisiana-based immigration court.
💬KEY QUOTE: “This Court finds that Respondent willfully misrepresented material fact(s) for the sole purpose of circumventing the immigration process,” wrote Judge Comans.
🎯IMPACT: Khalil now faces deportation unless he successfully appeals the decision within 30 days.
A federal immigration judge has ordered Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student who organized pro-Hamas protests, to be deported to Algeria or Syria. The ruling, issued last week, was revealed in court filings by Khalil’s lawyers on Wednesday as part of his ongoing lawsuit against the Trump administration to prevent his removal.
Khalil, a green card holder, has alleged that the Trump administration detained him and sought to deport him as part of a broader policy targeting foreign students involved in protests against Israel. The administration accused him of “hateful behavior and rhetoric.” Judge Jamee Comans denied Khalil’s motion for a waiver to prevent his removal, citing alleged misrepresentations on his green card application.
In her ruling, Comans stated, “This Court finds that Respondent’s lack of candor on his [immigration forms] was not an oversight by an uninformed, uneducated applicant. Rather, this Court finds that Respondent willfully misrepresented material fact(s) for the sole purpose of circumventing the immigration process.”
Khalil’s legal team criticized the decision, describing it as “highly unusual” and claiming procedural irregularities. “It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech,” Khalil said in a statement.
The Trump administration had initially sought to deport Khalil under a federal law allowing removal if the Secretary of State determines a noncitizen’s presence poses “adverse foreign policy consequences.” A federal judge blocked this attempt earlier in the year. Khalil now has 30 days to appeal the immigration court’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Khalil is currently a citizen of Algeria, but was born in Syria, leaving the two countries as the most reasonable places for Khalil to be deported to.
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