US immigration judge rules Palestinian Columbia student Khalil can be deported

A US immigration judge ruled on Friday that Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, allowing President Donald Trump's administration to proceed with its effort to remove the Columbia University student from the US a month after his arrest in New York City.

The ruling by judge Jamee Comans of the LaSalle immigration court in Louisiana was not a final determination of Khalil's fate. However, it represented a significant victory for the Republican president in his efforts to deport foreign pro-Palestinian students who are in the US legally and, like Khalil, have not been charged with a crime.

Citing the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, Trump-appointed US secretary of state Marco Rubio determined last month that Khalil could harm American foreign policy interests and should be deported for his “otherwise lawful” speech and activism.

Comans said she did not have the authority to overrule a secretary of state. The judge denied a motion by Khalil's lawyers to subpoena Rubio and question him about the “reasonable grounds” he had for his determination under the 1952 law.

The judge's decision came after a combative 90-minute hearing held in a court inside a jail complex for immigrants surrounded by double-fenced razor wire and run by private government contractors in rural Louisiana.

Khalil, a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that has roiled Columbia's New York City campus, was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, holds Algerian citizenship and became a lawful US permanent resident last year. Khalil's wife is a US citizen.

Khalil remains in the Louisiana jail where federal authorities transferred him after his March 8 arrest at his Columbia University apartment building 1,930km away. Comans gave Khalil's lawyers until April 23 to apply for relief before she considers whether to issue a deportation order. An immigration judge can rule  a migrant cannot be deported because of possible persecution in a home country, among other limited grounds.

In a separate case in New Jersey, US district judge Michael Farbiarz has blocked deportation while he considers Khalil's claim that his arrest was made in violation of the US Constitution's First Amendment protections for freedom of speech.

As Comans adjourned, Khalil leant forward, asking to address the court. Comans hesitated, then agreed.

Khalil quoted her remarks at his hearing on Tuesday that nothing was more important to the court than “due process rights and fundamental fairness”.

“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” Khalil said.

“This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court so far away from my family.”

The judge said her ruling turned on an undated, two-page letter signed by Rubio and submitted to the court and to Khalil's counsel. Khalil's lawyers, appearing via a video link, complained they were given less than 48-hours to review Rubio's letter and evidence submitted by the Trump administration to Comans this week. Marc Van Der Hout, Khalil's lead immigration attorney, repeatedly asked for the hearing to be delayed. Comans reprimanded him for what the judge said was straying from the hearing's purpose, twice saying he had “an agenda”.

Comans said the 1952 immigration law gave the secretary of state “unilateral judgment” to make his determination about Khalil.

Khalil should be removed, Rubio wrote, for his role in “anti-Semitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the US”.

Rubio's letter did not accuse Khalil of breaking any laws, but said the state department can revoke the legal status of immigrants who could harm US foreign policy interests even when their beliefs, associations or statements are “otherwise lawful”.

After Comans ended the hearing, several of Khalil's supporters wept as they left the courtroom. Khalil stood and smiled at them, making a heart shape with his hands.

Khalil has said criticism of the US government's support of Israel's military occupation of Palestinian territories is being wrongly conflated with anti-Semitism. His lawyers told the court they were submitting into evidence Khalil's interviews last year with CNN and other news outlets in which he denounces anti-Semitism and other prejudice.

His lawyers have said the Trump administration was targeting him for protected speech, including the right to criticise American foreign policy.

“Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing and a weaponisation of immigration law to suppress dissent,” Van Der Hout said after the hearing.

The immigration court system is run and its judges are appointed by the US justice department, separate from the government's judicial branch.

Reuters