The Trump administration plans to re-arrest and deport Syrian-born anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, according to Tricia McLaughlin, assistant U.S. secretary of homeland security for public affairs.
“It looks like he’ll go to Algeria. That’s what the thought is right now,” McLaughlin told NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight.” Khalil’s mother has family ties to Algeria, and as a result, Khalil holds citizenship there.
Khalil, a Columbia University graduate of Palestinian descent, holds a green card as a U.S. permanent resident. He has been accused of organizing encampments and other protestsat the Manhattan campus, several of which turned violent and included rhetoric supporting Hamas.
Khalil has said he served only as the spokesperson for the protests and has denied supporting violence. He has been fighting efforts to deport him through the legal system since Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him in New York in March 2025.
While efforts to deport Khalil on the grounds that his presence undermined U.S. foreign policy interests were largely rejected by federal courts, the Trump administration found more success in its case that Khalil deliberately lied on his visa application form, concealing his previous work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which Israeli and U.S. officials have shown has ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Khalil also failed to disclose employment with the British embassy in Syria, according to federal authorities.
On Jan. 15, a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a 2-1 ruling dismissing a habeas action Khalil filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE officials, challenging his detention and vacating the lower court’s release order.
“It’s a reminder for those who are in this country on a visa or on a green card. You are a guest in this country. Act like it,” McLaughlin said. “It is a privilege, not a right, to be in this country to live or to study.”
Khalil filed a $20 million claim against the Trump administration in July 2025, alleging wrongful detention and prosecution over his support for the Palestinian cause.
