JENA, United States: An immigration judge ruled Friday that a pro-Palestinian student protester, a US permanent resident detained by the Trump administration, can be deported, US media and a legal rights group said.
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans said the government had met its burden to prove it had grounds to deport him, Fox News reported.
“An immigration judge ruled immediately after a hearing today that Mahmoud Khalil is removable under US immigration law,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.
Khalil, a prominent face of the protest movement that erupted in response to Israel’s war in Gaza who is married to a US citizen, was arrested and taken to Louisiana earlier this month, sparking protests. Several other foreign student protesters have been similarly targeted.
Comans had ordered the government to spell out its case against Khalil, who the government is seeking to deport on the grounds that his protest activities are a threat to national security.
In a letter to the court, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that Khalil’s activism could hurt Washington’s foreign policy.
But he declined to argue formally that the Algeria-born Palestinian student was Hamas-aligned, as officials have told journalists.
The undated letter instead referred to Khalil’s “participation and roles” in allegedly “anti-Semitic protests and disruptive activities which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”
It made no reference to any alleged crime.
Ahead of the hearing, one of Khalil’s lawyers Marc Van Der Hout said Thursday that he would “be contesting the evidence.”
Judge says US can deport pro-Palestinian student protester
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Judge says US can deport pro-Palestinian student protester
- Immigration judge rules that Mahmoud Khalil is removable under US immigration law
