Lawyers for Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil argued on Thursday that the government did not present evidence to prove that his presence in the U.S. poses an adverse foreign policy consequence, which the Trump administration has argued is the ground for his deportation from the U.S.
Khalil is scheduled to appear before an immigration judge in Louisiana on Friday, a hearing that comes after the judge gave the government a deadline earlier this week to present evidence to back up several allegations made against Khalil, including that he misrepresented information on his green card application.
Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at his Columbia housing last month. He is a green card holder and legal permanent resident married to an American citizen, who is nine months pregnant.
The government entered into evidence a two-page memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that he found that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. “would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.”
The memo makes no mention of previous allegations that he misrepresented information on his green card application and instead doubles down on an obscure section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that deems migrants deportable “if the Secretary of State has reasonable