Mahmoud Khalil, a judge, ruled that Trump has the authority to remove a Palestinian activist based on their involvement in protests at Columbia.

A judge has ruled that pro Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported due to his involvement in protests at Columbia University.

The 30-year-old was arrested last month by immigration authorities, despite not  being accused of breaking any laws. 

The Trump administration instead claimed that Khalil was leading ‘activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization’.

The ruling was made Friday by Judge Jamee Comans of the LaSalle Immigration Court in Louisiana, where Khalil is being held in jail.

He described himself as a ‘political prisoner’, and slated the squalid conditions he says he is being held in.

Khalil was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, holds Algerian citizenship and became a US lawful permanent resident last year. 

His wife, Noor Abdalla, who is eight months pregnant, is also a US citizen.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Khalil should be deported because his presence in the United States could lead to significant negative impacts on foreign policy. Rubio referred to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to support his argument.

A judge has ruled that pro Palestine activist Khalil Mahmoud can be deported due to his involvement in protests at Columbia University  

The 30-year-old was arrested last month by immigration authorities over his role in igniting pro-Palestine protests at Columbia last year

In a letter addressed to the court, Rubio highlighted Khalil’s involvement in activities like antisemitic protests and disruptive behaviors that create an unfriendly environment for Jewish students in the country.

Rubio clarified in his letter that Khalil was not being accused of any criminal activities. However, he emphasized that the State Department holds the authority to revoke the immigration status of individuals based on their beliefs, affiliations, or statements, even if they are considered lawful.

Khalil and his lawyers have said the Trump administration was targeting him for speech that is protected under the US Constitution’s First Amendment, including the right to criticize American foreign policy.

The activist was arrested on March 8 at his Columbia University apartment building and transferred to  jail. 

His lawyers have said they are being rushed to review the evidence that the administration submitted on Wednesday on the orders of the judge.

Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of Khalil’s attorneys, told a press briefing on Thursday that Rubio’s letter ‘is a sort of tacky, Soviet-style diktat that’s equal parts empty and chilling.’

Khalil has said criticism of the US government’s support of Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territories is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism.

He has not been accused of breaking any laws and his lawyers say he was exercising his constitutional right to free speech

Khalil played a leading role in igniting pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University last month, and although he has not been accused of any crime, Trump officials said he was detained because he ‘led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization’ 

Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla (pictured) is eight months pregnant, and he wrote in his letter behind bars: ‘I hope nonetheless to be free to witness the birth of my first-born child.’

His lawyers are expected to appeal today’s ruling. His team has until April 23 to file relief applications.

The international affairs graduate student had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel´s military campaign in Gaza.

The university brought police in to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. 

Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn´t among the people arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

But images of his mask-less face at protests, along with his willingness to share his name with reporters, have made him an object of scorn among those who saw the protesters and their demands as anti-Semitic.

A State Department spokesperson told AP the department does not comment on ongoing legal cases.

In a separate case in a New Jersey federal court, Khalil is challenging what he has said is his unlawful arrest, detention and transfer to the jail Louisiana, some 1,200 miles from his family and lawyers in New York City.

His detention sparked a wave of protests in the Big Apple and beyond.

Khalil’s arrest sparked protests in New York, seen in lower Manhattan on March 12, 2025 

Khalil said that he believes his arrest was the result of ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ in ‘both the Biden and Trump administrations’, and claimed he was being made an example of to act as a deterrent to other would-be activists.

‘I wake to cold mornings and spend long days bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law,’ Khalil said in a letter, per NBC News.

‘Who has the right to have rights? It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here,’ he wrote.

The American immigration court system is run and its judges are appointed by the US Justice Department, separate from the government’s judicial branch.