The Trump administration is moving ahead with plans to deport one of the most prominent foreign student activists tied to the pro-Hamas campus agitation that swept elite universities in 2024.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has selected Algeria as the destination country for the removal of Mahmoud Khalil, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed in a Wednesday interview with NewsNation.
According to the Daily Caller, Khalil who became the public face of the pro-Palestinian student protests that convulsed Columbia University is now significantly closer to being re-detained by federal immigration authorities after an appeals court ruling earlier in January cleared a major legal hurdle.
It looks like hell go to Algeria, McLaughlin said during the interview, making clear that the administration is preparing to take Khalil back into custody. Thats what the thought is right now.
McLaughlin used the case to send a broader message to foreign nationals residing in the United States under temporary legal status. Its a reminder for those who are in this country on a visa or on a green card. You are a guest in this country act like it, she said, adding, It is a privilege, not a right, to be in this country to live or to study, and if you are pushing propaganda that relishes the killing of Americans or promotes terrorists doors that way.
Major American universities in 2024 saw their campuses overtaken by left-wing student demonstrators loudly aligning themselves with the Palestinian cause amid the Israel-Hamas war. Columbia University in New York City became the epicenter of this unrest, with protests escalating to such an extent that administrators ultimately called in law enforcement to restore order and make arrests.
Khalil, then a graduate student in the U.S. on a non-immigrant student visa, quickly emerged as a central organizer and spokesman for the movement. He routinely appeared in media interviews and acted as a go-between for Columbias administration and the activists escalating list of demands, while describing himself as Syrian-born, an Algerian citizen, and Palestinian by ancestry.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Khalil at his university residence on March 8, making him the first of a series of alleged pro-Hamas sympathizers on American campuses to be taken into federal custody. He was promptly transported to an immigration detention facility in Louisiana, where he remained until a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release, a ruling that temporarily stalled the administrations efforts.
That reprieve ended in January when a federal appeals panel concluded that the New Jersey judge lacked jurisdiction to intervene in his detention case. The decision effectively reopened the path for the Trump administration to re-arrest Khalil and proceed with his removal from the country.
On Thursday, administration officials publicly reaffirmed their intention to deport Khalil. McLaughlin did not mince words in describing the activists record and the rationale for DHSs actions.
Mahmoud Khalil is a foreign terrorist sympathizer who has repeatedly refused to condemn Hamas and has previously advocated for violence, glorified terrorists, terrorized Jewish students, and damaged property, McLaughlin told the Daily Caller News Foundation. DHS is working to enforce his lawful removal order.
Since leaving immigration custody, Khalil has tried to turn his case into a rallying point against President Donald Trumps immigration enforcement agenda, making frequent media appearances and filing a lawsuit to challenge the administration. During a July interview on CNN, he again drew scrutiny when he declined multiple opportunities from host Pamela Brown to clearly denounce Hamas.
So I hate this selective outrage of condemnation because this is not, this wouldnt lead to a constructive conversation, he said when pressed about Hamas and the groups Oct. 7, 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians. And this is also, like what we want to deal with is the root causes of why that happened. And its no way anyone can justify the killing of civilians.
For an administration that has pledged to restore immigration enforcement and protect American citizens from foreign extremists, Khalils case has become a test of whether the U.S. will tolerate non-citizen activists who refuse to condemn terrorism while enjoying the benefits of American education and legal protections. McLaughlins remarks underscore a broader conservative argument: that visas and green cards are conditional privileges, and that those who use their time in the United States to promote terrorists should expect not accommodation, but removal.
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