Immigration judge rules Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil can be deported

· UPI

April 11 (UPI) -- A federal immigration judge on Friday ruled that Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from the United States though he is a legal permanent resident.

Khalil, 30, is accused of supporting Hamas, which is a designated foreign terrorist organization, including leading protests at the private Ivy League school in New York.

In Louisiana, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans determined Khalil can be removed from the nation. She gave Khalil's lawyers until April 23 to file and seek relief to stop the process.

Comans, who was appointed by the Department of Justice in January 2023, scheduled the Friday hearing to give Khalil's legal team time to review the evidence against him if any is provided.

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Khalil spoke to the judge after the ruling.

"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. I just hope that the urgency that you deemed fit for me are afforded to the hundreds of others who have been here without hearing for months."

His supporters in the courtroom wept as the judge made her ruling.

A federal district judge in New Jersey earlier ruled that Khalil cannot be deported while the proceedings are ongoing.

After the ruling in Louisiana, Michael Farbiarz, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, ordered attorneys for DOJ and Khalil to conduct a telephone conference.

On Wednesday, the DHS said it immediately will begin screening visa applicants' social media for "antisemitic activity and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests."

The Trump administration has canceled the visas of at least 529 students, faculty and researchers from 88 colleges and universities, according to a CNN review.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Khalil, 30, on March 8.

ICE transferred Khalil to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, N.J., and then his current location in Jena, La., where Comans is presiding over his case.

Comans said Khalil can be deported to his native Syria or Algeria, where he is a citizen.

Khalil is married to a U.S. citizen, Noor Abdalla, who is due to give birth soon, Khalil's attorney, Marc Van Der Hout, told the court Tuesday.

The U.S. government said it has the power to revoke Khalil's legal permanent resident status under the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952. The seldom-used law gives the secretary of state wide authority.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Khalil's "presence or activities in the United States" would create "serious adverse foreign policy consequences" for the nation.

Khalil is accused of withholding information from the DHS regarding membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which has organized protests and takeovers of university buildings at Columbia.

He received his master's degree in public administration in December.

"We believe that it is the highest honor of our lives to struggle for the cause of Palestinian liberation," Khalil said in a column in the Columbia University Spectator student newspaper published seven days ago.

Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,100. Subsequently, more than 61,700 Palestinians died in Gaza in the war, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.