FILE PHOTO: Mahmoud Khalil speaks to members of media about the Revolt for Rafah encampment at Columbia University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, in New York City, U.S., June 1, 2024.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Trump administration can deport Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil just a month after his arrest prompted national outrage and marked the start of the federal government’s broader crackdown on foreign students.
Khalil has until April 23 to file for relief.
In his ruling, the judge said that “the court will sustain charge of removability.”
After the judge ruled, Khalil addressed the court, saying: “Nothing more important than due process and fundamental fairness. Neither of those principles were present today. This is exactly why the Trump admin sent me to this court 1,000 miles away from my family.”
“I hope your urgency for this is to the thousands of people here in this facility,” he added.
Khalil, who helped lead student protests against the war in Gaza at the Ivy League school last year, was detained on March 8 by federal authorities at his university-owned apartment complex in New York City. He has since been in custody at a Louisiana immigration detention center.
The Jena/La Salle ICE detention facility where Palestinian Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents, was transferred is seen in Jena, Louisiana, U.S. March 10, 2025.
Edmund Fountain | Reuters
The Trump administration has maintained publicly that it has the authority to deport Khalil — a 30-year-old green card holder —because he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
The administration also repeatedly cited a rarely invoked provision from a 1952 law — the Immigration and Nationality Act — which allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens if their presence in the country threatens U.S. foreign policy.
Lawyers for the government have also alleged that Khalil withheld information about his affiliation with certain organizations and failed to disclose in his permanent residency application that he was previously employed at the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut.
A federal judge pressed the administration to submit evidence supporting their claims and justification for Khalil’s deportation by Wednesday.
Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem and Brandon Waterman, a lawyer for the government, stand before U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman as Khalil’s wife (in green hijab), a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant and did not wish to be named, watches during a hearing on the detention of Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, in New York City, U.S., March 12, 2025 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded Wednesday evening with a brief memo obtained by NBC News that cites Khalil’s beliefs in justifying his deportation.
Rubio said that while Khalil’s “past, current or expected beliefs, statements, or associations that are otherwise lawful,” the provision allows Rubio alone to “personally determine” whether Khalil should be allowed to stay in the country.
Rubio — who is a child of Cuban immigrants — said last month that the State Department had revoked more than 300 student visas and would continue to do so.
According to an NBC News analysis, as of Wednesday, officials had revoked the visas of foreign students—many of whom are Arab—in at least 29 states.
Video of the March arrest of a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Öztürk, showed several plainclothes DHS agents surrounding her, grabbing her wrists, and moving her into an SUV while she screamed out in confusion. Her lawyers argue that she was targeted for writing an opinion piece in her school newspaper that criticized Tufts’ response to the war in Gaza.
An international student at the University of Florida was deported late last month after he was arrested and accused of traffic violations, his family and local officials said.
DHS announced a new task force on Wednesday to monitor the social media activity of immigrants, including foreign students, for antisemitism. Three sources familiar with the operation told NBC News that officials will screen approximately 1.5 million international students for potential grounds to revoke their visas.
Students from across New York City march outside Columbia’s Morningside campus to protest the university’s concessions to the federal government and call for divestment from Israel and the release of Mahmoud Khalil, at Columbia University in New York City, U.S. March 24, 2025.
Dana Edwards | Reuters
Khalil’s arrest prompted a handful of protests at Columbia, the epicenter of last year’s demonstrations, and around New York City, including at Trump Tower.
Columbia students who spoke with NBC News since Khalil’s arrest said that speaking out had become “too dangerous” at the university once known as a venue for challenging authority.
A university spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment regarding the order over Khalil’s deportation.
The sweeping measures against international students are one of several ways the Trump administration has used the federal government’s powers to exert leverage on academic institutions.
