An immigration judge has ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure in last year's anti-Semitic demonstrations at Columbia University, is to be deported to either Algeria or Syria.
The decision comes after it was determined that Khalil "willfully misrepresented" his involvement in campus activism and his employment with the Hamas-associated United Nations agency, UNRWA, on his immigration documentation.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, Judge Jamee Comans issued the deportation order on Friday, specifying that Khalil must be "REMOVED from the United States to Algeria, or in the alternative to Syria." This follows the immigration court's earlier rejection of Khalil's asylum application in June.
Khalil has been granted a 30-day period from the issuance of the order to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. In a filing on Wednesday, Khalil's legal team indicated their intention to challenge the deportation decision, though they expressed concerns about the likelihood of a swift and unfavorable outcome, as reported by Politico.
Khalil, a long-standing anti-Semitic activist, gained notoriety as a leader of anti-Israel protests at Columbia University. The Trump administration had previously revoked his visa and green card, detaining him on national security grounds.
Although a federal judge ordered his release in June, the administration continued to pursue his deportation on different grounds, culminating in the recent ruling.
The move to deport Khalil sparked outrage among Democratic lawmakers and mainstream media earlier this year, who argued that his campus activism was protected by the First Amendment. In a July interview with CNN, Khalil refused to denounce Hamas and criticized the interviewers for suggesting he should.
Prosecutors revealed that Khalil had concealed his employment with UNRWA during Hamas's attacks on October 7 from his U.S. green card application.
Judge Comans highlighted Khalil's failure to disclose his involvement with UNRWA and the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) on his Form I-485 as a key factor in the deportation decision. "The Respondent failed to disclose his involvement, association and participation with United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), on his Form I-485," Comans stated.
The judge further asserted that Khalil's omissions were deliberate, stating, "This Court finds that Respondent's lack of candor on his I-485 was not an oversight by an uninformed, uneducated applicant. 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 application would be denied."
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