An immigration judge ordered the deportation of anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil for failing to disclose certain information on his green card application, Politico reported.
Khalil’s lawyers filed documents in federal court on Wednesday, which showed that Louisiana-based judge Jamee Comans made the decision on Sept. 12.
Per the judge’s order, Khalil is to be deported to Syria, where Khalil was born, or to Algeria, where he holds citizenship.
Khalil’s lawyers reportedly intend to appeal the order to the Board of Immigration Appeals within the 30 days allotted, though they expressed concern that they are likely to fail in short order.
The Columbia University graduate entered the United States on a student visa before marrying a U.S. citizen, which allowed him to get a green card and permanent legal resident status. As he is married to a U.S. citizen, their young child is a U.S. citizen.
Khalil served as a spokesperson and organizer for anti-Israel protests, which severely disrupted the Ivy League school’s operations last year. The protests, many in direct support of Hamas, turned violent on several occasions, and Jewish students and faculty said they were denied access to parts of campus by a weeks-long encampment that police eventually disbanded.
The Trump administration failed to have Khalil deported based on an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that “an alien, whose presence or activities in the United States the secretary of state has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States, is deportable.”
A federal judge in New Jersey blocked Khalil’s deportation in June, tossing aside the government’s argument and freeing Khalil after a three-month detention. The judge barred Khalil’s removal from the country while his case was pending.
The administration pursued a parallel track, claiming that Khalil failed to disclose previous employment with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, his affiliation with Columbia University Apartheid Divest and employment with the British Embassy in Beirut.
Comans agreed in her Friday ruling that the government had grounds to invalidate his visa. (JNS sought comment from the White House and U.S. State Department.)
Comans wrote that Khalil “understood the consequences and that the candid disclosure of his affiliations might lead to an additional line of questioning and the ultimate denial of his application for conditional permanent residency,” adding that Khalil’s “lack of candor” was “not an oversight.”
Khalil remains free and has not been charged with a crime.
