US judge to rule on Columbia student’s deportation

A Louisiana judge will later determine whether Columbia University campus activist Mahmoud Khalil can be released from custody.

The judge is expected to decide at the hearing whether the 30-year-old green card holder can be deported or whether he must be freed from detention.

Mr Khalil has been in custody since 8 March, when he was told by US immigration officers he was being deported for taking part in campus protests against the war in Gaza and the New York City university’s investment ties to Israel.

His lawyer has accused the US government of trying to silence people over speech it doesn’t support, arguing it has not presented evidence to justify his arrest.

On Thursday, the Columbia graduate’s legal team released a two-page undated memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which he said Mr Khalil’s presence in the US could jeopardise “US policy to combat antisemitism” around the world and domestically.

The memo was submitted as part of the Trump administration’s court filing in the case.

Earlier in the week, Judge Jamee Comans had said she would terminate the case unless the government showed its evidence supporting Mr Khalil’s removal, with a hearing set for Friday afternoon.

In the memo, Rubio said moves to deport him were also to “protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States” even if his activities were “otherwise lawful”.

But lawyer Marc Van Der Hout said no evidence of antisemitism has been presented.

“What is it? Is it the criticising of Israel and the USA of the slaughter in Gaza? That’s what this case is really about.

“The rights of people in this country – immigrants and citizens – are to be able to speak out no matter what their views may be,” he said.

“Popular or not, free speech is what this country is about.”

Mr Khalil, who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, has strongly denied his pro-Palestinian stance includes antisemitic beliefs or support for Hamas.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States.

Mr Khalil was a prominent voice at Columbia University’s protests against the war in Gaza last year.

Rather than accusing Mr Khalil of breaking US laws, the administration has cited a 1952 law that empowers the government to order someone deported if their presence in the country could pose unfavourable consequences for American foreign policy.

Mr Khalil is being held at the Central Louisiana Ice Processing Center, four hours from New Orleans. His lawyer says he’s in good spirits “and plans to fight this until the bitter end”.

A judge recently decided that the legal battle over his deportation will play out in a New Jersey courtroom because that’s the state where he was held when his lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition demanding his release.

Though that ruling moves his case to New Jersey, he is still physically in Louisiana and has been for more than a month.

He was the first of several students in the US to be targeted this month as part of Trump’s deportation agenda.