Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. Ted Shaffrey/AP
Ted Shaffrey/AP
JENA, La. — A Louisiana immigration judge ruled Friday that activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported.
Khalil, who as a Columbia University graduate student led pro-Palestinian protests there last year, was detained last month after Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that Khalil had engaged in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which foster a hostile environment for Jewish students in the U.S.”
In an undated 2-page memo submitted to the court, Rubio detailed that on March 7 he got information about Khalil from the Department of Homeland Security and as a result he determined that allowing Khalil to remain in the country would undermine a U.S. foreign policy goal of combating antisemitism around the world.
During a hearing at the remote Louisiana detention center where Khalil is being held, Judge Jamee Comans said Friday that she had no authority to question Rubio’s determination.
After the ruling,