Judge says US can deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil
A US immigration judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil, a US permanent resident and Palestinian activist, despite his lawyers saying the government failed to provide enough evidence.
The landmark ruling could aid the sweeping crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices in the US who hold visas and permanent residencies.
“Today’s ruling is a rush to judgement on baseless charges that the government presented no evidence to substantiate because no evidence exists," Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union-New Jersey, one of the lawyers on Khalil's case, said in a press release.
US judge Jamee Comans in Louisiana ruled that the government has proven its grounds for moving ahead with deporting Khalil. His legal team has until 23 April to appeal the decision, and Khalil's team, even before the Friday hearing, said they would appeal deportation.
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When asked to make a statement on the record after the ruling was announced, Khalil said, “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. Clearly, what we witnessed today, neither of these principles [were] present today or in this whole process,” he said.
“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 [is] afforded to the hundreds of others who have been here without hearing for months," Khalil said, according to news site Zeteo.
Khalil, who played a prominent role in the Columbia University student protests over the past year, was picked up in early March by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from his apartment in New York City.
Khalil has been held at an ICE prison facility in Jena, Louisiana, for the past month, where his lawyers believe the Trump administration finds judges more favourable to the US government.
"Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent," Marc Van der Hout, one of Khalil's lawyers, said in a statement issued after the ruling.
Diala Shamas, a senior staff attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights, said that in a "pre-written decision, an immigration judge rubber-stamped a shameful determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio".
The landmark ruling could set the stage for the Trump administration to ramp up the deportation of other permanent residents. The administration had argued that Khalil’s presence in the US would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences”.
According to the Associated Press, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that Khalil's "presence or activities would compromise a compelling US foreign policy interest”.
Khalil’s lawyers argued that the US government had an exceptionally high bar to meet, saying the evidence submitted must be "clear, convincing and unequivocal", one of Khalil's lawyers, Marc L Van Der Hout, said at a briefing for reporters on Thursday.
Khalil is one of several people affiliated with prestigious universities who have been detained by ICE agents as part of the government’s immigration crackdown.
He was a negotiator for pro-Palestinian student protesters in talks with Columbia University's administration during last spring’s Gaza solidarity encampment on campus opposing Israel’s war on Gaza.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents arrested him outside of his apartment on Columbia University’s campus on 8 March as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian students, as the administration has equated their activism with antisemitism.
The plain clothes agents stated they had revoked Khalil's student visa. When his wife showed the agents that Mahmoud had a green card, not a visa, they said that it had been revoked as well.
Khalil was transferred to an immigration detention centre in central Louisiana without notice from his counsel or his wife, even though his habeas case was pending in New York as he was held next door in New Jersey.
Habeas petitions challenge arrest and detention as violations of the First and Fifth Amendments.
Khalil's legal team says the fight to prevent his deportation is far from over.
“This is egregious overreach by the US government,” said Amy Greer, associate attorney at Dratel & Lewis.
"We have fought for Mahmoud’s release every single day since he was detained. We will continue to do so until he is home with his family.”
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