An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled on Friday that student-activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported due to his key involvement in anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University last year.
The decision was made in favor of the Trump administration’s efforts to combat antisemitic demonstrations across the United States, specifically on America’s college campuses.
Judge Jamee E. Comans’ decision was a “removability finding,” meaning Khalil is deportable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will be removed from the country. He is still facing a federal trial in New Jersey, where his attorneys similarly argue that their client’s free speech is being violated.
“The department has met its burden to establish removability by clear and convincing evidence,” Comans said during the end of the two-hour hearing, per The New York Times. Syrian-born Khalil, 30, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on March 8, 2025, at his university-funded Manhattan apartment where he lives with his pregnant wife, an American citizen.
Though he remained silent throughout the hearing, Khalil had choice words for the judge following her ruling at the LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana, The New York Times added.
“I would like to quote what you said last time, that there’s nothing that’s more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness,” he said. “Clearly, what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process. This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, 1,000 miles away from my family.”
Comans denied hearing his legal team’s request to delay the hearing so she could review more evidence and also rejected the Department of Homeland Security’s plea to add more accusations against Khalil during the hearing.
Following the hearing, Khalil’s legal team said, “Despite the government’s failure to prove that Mahmoud broke any law, the court has decided that lawful permanent residents can have their status revoked for pro-Palestine advocacy,” per CNN, arguing that it sets a “dangerous precedent” for people who believe in a citizen’s right to political expression via free speech.
In a statement written by Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, she called her husband’s deportation ruling a “devastating blow to our family,” according to ABC News.
“No person should be deemed removable from their home for speaking out against the killing of Palestinian families, doctors and journalists,” the statement said. “Today, in court, the government reiterated the same baseless racist claims about my husband that we have heard time and again, an attempt to smear those calling for an end to Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza. My husband is a political prisoner who is being deprived of his rights because he believes Palestinians deserve equal dignity and freedom.”
In the New Jersey case, Khalil’s attorneys will continue seeking bail and a preliminary injunction so he can be released from custody while his immigration case is ongoing.