XPost: alt.activism, alt.politics.immigration, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
XPost: sac.politics, alt.society.liberalism

https://apnews.com/article/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-protester-ruling- deport-fd9e80583af3109d7de0a5264e79ea61

JENA, La. (AP) — Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can
be forced out of the country as a national security risk, an immigration
judge in Louisiana ruled Friday after lawyers argued the legality of
deporting the activist who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The government’s contention that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” satisfied requirements
for deportation, Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans said at a hearing in
Jena.

Comans said the government had “established by clear and convincing
evidence that he is removable.”

After the immigration court hearing, Khalil attorney Marc Van Der Hout
told a New Jersey federal judge that Khalil will appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals within weeks.

“So nothing is going to happen quickly,” he said.

Addressing the judge at the end of the immigration hearing, Khalil
recalled her saying at a hearing earlier in the week that “there’s nothing
more important to this 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,” he added. “This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to the court, 1,000 miles away from my family.”

“Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud was subject to a charade
of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent,” Van Der Hout said
in a statement.


Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, was detained by federal immigration agents
March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest
under President Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined
campus protests against the war in Gaza.

Within a day, he was flown across the country to an immigration detention center in Jena, far from his attorneys and wife, a U.S. citizen due to
give birth soon.

Khalil’s lawyers have challenged the legality of his detention, saying the Trump administration is trying to block free speech protected by the First Amendment.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify Khalil’s deportation, which gives him power to deport those who pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

At Friday’s hearing, Van Der Hout told the judge that the government’s submissions to the court prove the attempt to deport his client “has
nothing to do with foreign policy” and said the government is trying to
deport him for protected speech.

Khalil, a Palestinian born and raised in Syria after his grandparents were forcibly removed from their ancestral home in Tiberias, isn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia.

The government, however, has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views
that the administration considers to be antisemitic and “pro-Hamas,”
referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct.
7, 2023.

Khalil, a 30-year-old international affairs graduate student, had served
as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia
University who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel’s
military campaign in Gaza.

The university summoned police to dismantle the encampment after a small
group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not
accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn’t among those arrested.

But images of his maskless face at protests and his willingness to share
his name with reporters have drawn scorn from those who viewed the
protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused
Khalil of “siding with terrorists” but has yet to cite any support for the claim.

Federal judges in New York and New Jersey have ordered the government not
to deport Khalil while his case plays out in multiple courts.

The Trump administration has said it is taking at least $400 million in
federal funding away from research programs at Columbia and its medical
center to punish it for not adequately fighting what it considers to be antisemitism on campus.

Some Jewish students and faculty complained about being harassed during
the demonstrations or ostracized because of their faith or their support
of Israel.

Immigration authorities have cracked down on other critics of Israel on
college campuses, arresting a Georgetown University scholar who had spoken
out on social media about the Israel-Gaza war, canceling the student visas
of some protesters and deporting a Brown University professor who they
said had attended the Lebanon funeral of a leader of Hezbollah, another militant group that has fought with Israel.


--
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and
eradicated.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)