XPost: alt.politics.immigration, alt.news-media, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   A federal immigration judge has ordered Mahmoud Khalil — a former Columbia   
   University graduate student linked to pro-Palestinian protests — to be   
   deported to either Algeria or Syria.   
      
   The ruling was issued last week, but it first came to light in court   
   papers filed by Khalil's lawyers on Wednesday as part of his lawsuit   
   against the government. A green card holder, Khalil alleges the Trump   
   administration detained him for months and sought to deport him as part of   
   a wider policy of punishing foreign students for protesting Israel's   
   conduct in its war against Hamas. The Trump administration has accused him   
   of "hateful behavior and rhetoric."   
      
   On Friday, Louisiana-based immigration Judge Jamee Comans denied Khalil's   
   motion for a waiver preventing his removal from the U.S. because he   
   allegedly misrepresented his background on his green card paperwork.   
   Comans once again ordered him to be deported to either Algeria, where   
   Khalil is a citizen, or Syria, where he was born.   
      
   Khalil now has 30 days to appeal Comans' ruling to a Justice Department   
   body called the Board of Immigration Appeals, and if his appeal is   
   rejected, he will lose his green card status and be ordered to leave the   
   country, his lawyers said in a letter Wednesday to U.S. District Judge   
   Michael Farbiarz.   
      
   Lawyers for Khalil told Farbiarz they plan on amending his lawsuit against   
   the administration in light of "these latest, highly unusual   
   developments." In a statement Wednesday, Khalil's legal team argued the   
   immigration judge "rushed to a decision without providing a hearing on the   
   evidence as due process requires, engaging in multiple procedural   
   irregularities."   
      
   "It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate   
   against me for my exercise of free speech," Khalil said in the statement.   
   "Their latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their   
   true colors once again."   
      
   Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a   
   statement to CBS News: "It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green   
   card to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate   
   for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of   
   Americans, and harass Jews, take over buildings and deface property, that   
   privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country."   
      
   Khalil has denied advocating for violence or engaging in antisemitic   
   speech during campus protests at Columbia, saying in court papers he is   
   "committed to peaceful protest."   
      
   The legal fight between Khalil and the federal government stretches back   
   to March, when he was first detained by immigration agents in New York.   
   Khalil is one of several international students who were detained due to   
   their links to pro-Palestinian campus activism, which the Trump   
   administration alleges is riddled with antisemitism — a charge the   
   protesters deny.   
      
   Initially, the Trump administration argued Khalil could be deported under   
   a federal law allowing noncitizens to be removed if the Secretary of State   
   determines that their presence poses "adverse foreign policy   
   consequences."   
      
   In June, Farbiarz blocked the government from deporting Khalil on foreign   
   policy grounds, finding his "career and reputation are being damaged and   
   his speech is being chilled." A month later, Khalil was released from   
   immigration detention in Louisiana.   
      
   But his immigration case continued under a separate allegation leveled by   
   the Trump administration. In addition to the foreign policy claims, the   
   government had accused Khalil of leaving out details about his past   
   associations on his immigration paperwork, including membership in a   
   United Nations agency that works with Palestinians and his "continuing   
   employment" at the British Embassy in Lebanon.   
      
   In last week's ruling, Comans found that Khalil was not legally entitled   
   to a waiver of deportation on those allegations. The immigration judge   
   also said that Khalil shouldn't get discretion from the court because of   
   the "gravity of his conduct." She called Khalil an intelligent, ivy-league   
   educated individual" who should've known disclosure was required.   
      
   "This Court finds that Respondent's lack of candor on his [immigration   
   forms] was not an oversight by an uninformed, uneducated applicant," the   
   judge wrote. "Rather, this Court finds that Respondent willfully   
   misrepresented material fact(s) for the sole purpose of circumventing the   
   immigration process and reducing the likelihood his application would be   
   denied."   
      
   Khalil has denied making misrepresentations, saying he was not a member of   
   the U.N. agency, but was instead an unpaid intern through Columbia. He has   
   also stated that he stopped working at the British Embassy in Beirut in   
   2022, despite the government's claims that he continued working there   
   after that.   
      
   In a statement Wednesday, his lawyers called the claims "baseless" and   
   "pretextual."   
      
   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-orders-columbia-mahmoud-khalil-   
   deported-algeria-syria/?intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3a   
      
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