Rabat — An immigration judge in Louisiana, US has ordered that pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil be deported to Syria or Algeria, ruling that he failed to disclose all his past employment and membership in certain organizations on his green card.
Judge James Comans’s order contradicts a separate order made in Khalil’s federal case in June, where the court temporarily blocked his deportation in order to debate whether or not his detention and deportation amounted to unlawful retaliations for his activism on behalf of Palestine.
Khalil’s lawyers have expressed concerns to the ruling judge, Michael Farbiarz, that the block will not hold.
In a letter to Farbiarz, the lawyers wrote that, though they plan to appeal Comans’s order, the appeals court “almost never” grants stays of removal to noncitizens.
“As a result,” the letter reads, “the only meaningful impediment to Petitioner’s physical removal from the United States would be this Court’s important order prohibiting removal during the pendency of his federal habeas case.”
Why is there a new deportation order?
Khalil was arrested in March and subsequently detained in Louisiana. He became the face of the struggle between US President Donald Trump’s administration and pro-Palestinian activists on college campuses, including Columbia University, where Khalil obtained his master’s degree and took on a leading role in organizing protest efforts.
A Palestinian born in Syria with Algerian citizenship, he has lived in the US since 2022. He is a permanent resident married to a US citizen. His wife gave birth to their first son while Khalil was incarcerated.
The Trump administration arrested, detained, and attempted to deport Khalil on grounds that his organization of pro-Palestinian marches on campus “supported terrorism.” Prior to the arrest, Khalil’s activism efforts were legally cleared by Columbia.
After the arrest, Khalil and the federal government tangled in a series of messy legal battles, up until Farbiarz’s court ordered a stay in April.
The charges resulting in the new deportation order include Khalil’s intentionally hiding his membership in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD).
CUAD, which formed in November 2023, has demanded that Columbia break financial and academic ties with Israel. In October 2024, CUAD posted that it supported Palestinians in their fight for “liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance.” The Washington Post reported that CUAD praised Hamas and Hezbollah leadership in online posts.
The Trump administration has also alleged that Khalil did not disclose either his previous internship with the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Aid Agency (UNRWA) or his later employment at the British embassy in Beirut.
This week, Khalil issued a statement accusing the Trump administration of “fascist tactics.”
“It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech,” he said. “Their latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again.”
