US judge issues deportation order for Mahmoud Khalil

After being released from ICE custody after failed attempt by Trump administration to expel him, the Syrian-born, anti-Israel student activist now faces a court order to deport him to Syria or Algeria.

By World Israel News Staff

A federal judge has ordered that Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old Syrian-born graduate student at Columbia University and an anti-Israel activist, be deported to either Syria or Algeria, Politico reported on Wednesday.

The order was issued last Friday, according to the report, by Immigration Judge Jamee Comans.

Documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has provided legal representation for Khalil, show that on Friday Judge Comans denied the anti-Israel firebrand a request for a 12-day extension or a change of venue.

Khalil’s legal team had sought to relocate the proceedings from Louisiana to New York.

In her ruling rejecting the requests, Judge Comans cited Khalil’s failure to disclose his work for various foreign agencies when he filed visa requests in the US.

Prior to relocating to the US, Khalil worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in an unpaid internship.

During his undergraduate studies in the US, Khalil joined the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), another affiliation he failed to disclose on his I-485 green card application.

Khalil also failed to report his work at the British Embassy branch office in Beirut.

As part of her deportation order, Comans also noted that Khalil is unemployed and has lived in the US for only a short time and that, according to the State Department, Khalil’s political activities in the US have harmed American foreign policy goals.

A dual Syrian-Algerian citizen, Khalil must be removed to either country, Comans ruled, but she ave his defense team 30 days to file an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Despite the order, the ACLU said that an injunction by US District Court Judge Michael Farbiarz still is in effect, barring immigration authorities from detaining or deporting Khalil.

Should the Board of Immigration Appeals uphold the deportation order, the Trump administration would need to appeal Farbiarz’s injunction either by petitioning him to vacate it or by taking the case to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals and potentially to the Supreme Court.

In his response to the deportation order, Khalil accused Israel of genocide and the Trump administration of persecuting him for his stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech,” Khalil said.

“When their first effort to deport me was set to fail, they resorted to fabricating baseless and ridiculous allegations in a bid to silence me for speaking out and standing firmly with Palestine, demanding an end to the ongoing genocide.”

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