Judge Sets Deadline for US Government to Justify Mahmoud Khalil’s Deportation
Washington (Quds News Network)- An immigration judge in Louisiana has ordered the Trump administration to provide evidence justifying its attempt to deport Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil. The administration has until 5 p.m. Wednesday to present the evidence.
She said that if the evidence does not support deportation, she may rule on Friday on his release from immigration detention.
“If he’s not removable, I’m going to be terminating this case on Friday,” Judge Jamee Comans said during a hearing at the LaSalle Immigration Court earlier on Tuesday.
On March 8, Khalil, a green-card holder and leader in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year, was detained by federal agents outside of his Columbia University apartment and ultimately transferred to a detention center in Jena, Louisiana.
The Trump administration claims that his presence has adverse foreign policy consequences, an argument decried by his legal team as a blatant free speech violation. The government has not provided any evidence that he broke the law, a typical condition for revoking permanent residency.
At Tuesday’s hearing, a lawyer for Khalil, Marc Van Der Hout, said he had “not received a single document” in response to his request for “evidence and assertions” in the case. “We cannot plead until we know what the specific allegations are,” Van Der Hout said.
“I’m like you Mr Van Der Hout. I’d like to see the evidence,” the judge replied.
Department of Homeland Security lawyers told Comans they would provide the evidence by her 5pm Wednesday deadline.
Khalil appeared in person during the hearing, according to reports. He was dressed in a navy blue T-shirt over a beige sweatshirt and only spoke briefly to ask the judge to allow his wife to be allowed into the remote hearing, which the judge permitted after initially revoking remote access to the media and the public after more than 600 people attempted to access the hearing remotely on Tuesday.
Apart from his immigration case, Khalil is challenging the legality of his March arrest, known as a habeas corpus petition, in a separate case before a federal judge in New Jersey.
In a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump described the arrest of Khalil as “the first arrest of many to come”.
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” Trump said.
