Columbia Anti-Israel Protester Can Be Deported, Judge Rules

An immigration judge has ruled that Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from the U.S. due to his involvement in leading last year’s pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. Judge Jamee Comans ruled in Louisiana on Friday, April 11, that Khalil, 30, can be deported, saying that the U.S. government met its burden of proof to remove him.

“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,” Khalil told the court. “Clearly, what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process.”

“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 are afforded to the hundreds of others who have been here without hearing for months.” Khalil's team of attorneys have until April 23 to file relief applications.

During the hearing on Friday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorneys also spoke about how Khalil misrepresented himself on his green card application. DHS attorneys said that he willfully failed to disclose his employment with the Syrian office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he applied for permanent U.S. residency.

Federal officials also alleged that Khalil was "inadmissible at the time of his adjustment" because of "fraud or willful misrepresentation of material fact" in his status application. The agency further accused Khalil of failing to disclose his work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest. (FN/VFI News)

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” - Romans 13:1-2