Immigration judge orders Mahmoud Khalil to be deported to Algeria or Syria
An immigration judge has ordered Mahmoud Khalil be deported to Algeria or Syria, alleging he omitted information from his green card application, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student whose case has been at the center of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and on vocal opponents of Israel’s war in Gaza, was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in March and released in June.
Immigration Judge Jamee Comans, based out of Jena, Louisiana, on Friday denied Khalil’s motion for a waiver preventing his removal from the United States because of alleged misrepresentations made in an application for an adjustment of status.
Khalil’s attorneys said they have 30 days from the Friday order to appeal the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
In that order, Comans cited that on June 20, the court issued a written decision denying Khalil’s application for asylum and ordered he be removed to Algeria and Syria.
She doubled down on that ruling, saying the court found Khalil’s “lack of candor on his I-485 form was not an oversight by an uninformed, uneducated applicant.” The form is an application to register permanent residence or adjust status.
“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 applications could be denied. This Court cannot and will not condone such an action by granting a discretionary waiver,” Comans said.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, the Biden-appointed judge presiding over Khalil’s habeas corpus petition case in federal court in New Jersey, Khalil’s attorneys said Wednesday: “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.”
Farbiarz previously blocked the Trump administration from deporting Khalil over the allegation that he poses a national security risk; however, the government continued to pursue his removal based on the allegations related to his green card.
In a statement, Khalil said, “It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech. Their latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again.
“When their first effort to deport me was set to fail, they resorted to fabricating baseless and ridiculous allegations in a bid to silence me for speaking out and standing firmly with Palestine, demanding an end to the ongoing genocide,” he continued. “Such fascist tactics will never deter me from continuing to advocate for my people’s liberation.”
Khalil, a native of Syria and citizen of Algeria, entered the United States on a student visa in December 2022, and his status was adjusted to lawful permanent resident last November.
The Trump administration has accused Khalil, a green card holder, of withholding information about his membership in certain organizations, including that he was a political officer of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency of Palestine Refugees and that he was part of Columbia University Apartheid Divest. Furthermore, the Trump administration said he failed to disclose his previous employment at the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut in his permanent residency application last year.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
NBC News reviewed more than 100 pages of documents the federal government submitted in its effort to deport Khalil, along with evidence filed by his legal team — including his permanent residency application, articles about his activism and contracts and letters outlining his internship and work experience.
In some cases, the government appeared to rely on unverified tabloid reports about Khalil. In others, its claims were factually incorrect because of inconsistent timelines and mischaracterizations of his work history.