A federal judge in New Jersey ruled that the Trump administration's efforts to deport Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil after he helped lead highly publicized anti-Israel protests last spring are most likely "unconstitutional."
U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz issued the ruling on Wednesday but did not order Khalil's release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. In his 106-page ruling, the judge determined that the university graduate failed to respond to the government's charge that he had failed to disclose several personal details in his permanent residency application.
Federal officials contend that Khalil didn't disclose that he was a member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees when he applied for lawful permanent residence in 2024. In addition, the 30-year-old activist didn't disclose that he worked at the British Embassy in Beirut or that he was a member of the anti-Israel group Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
Farbiarz, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, stated, however, that he found the government attempting to deport Khalil because he poses a threat to U.S. foreign policy seems "likely unconstitutionally vague."
As noted in the judge's ruling, Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that Khalil's presence in the United States, based on his anti-Israel activities, could have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences."
Farbiarz also acknowledged that Section 1227 allows removing an alien if the secretary of state determines that the foreign national negatively impacts America's relations with other countries.
"But the secretary did not affirmatively determine that the petitioner's alleged conduct has impacted U.S. relations with other countries," Farbiarz stated in his ruling. "Indeed, the secretary's determination says nothing about any country other than America. It also does not mention a region of the world that encompasses particular countries."
Khalil has been detained since his arrest by federal agents on March 8 in the lobby of his Manhattan apartment building. After a transfer to a holding facility in Newark, New Jersey, the green card holder was moved to a holding facility in Louisiana.
The foreign national and his legal team claim that the Trump administration is suppressing constitutionally protected speech. However, the government has maintained that it's pursuing Khalil's deportation because he helped lead anti-Israel protests in support of Hamas, the terrorist group that attacked Israel in October 2023.
Last year, activists at various academic institutions throughout the country set up encampments and organized demonstrations in protest of Israel's military actions in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
As a result of the anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University, many Jewish students reported that they experienced antisemitic harassment from the protesters and that they did not feel safe on campus. Anti-Israel activists at Columbia University also took over Hamilton Hall, with video footage showing the protestors smashing windows and breaking into the building.
Khalil discussed the anti-Israel encampments with reporters last August, saying that he and his fellow activists planned to continue demonstrating despite the arrest of more than 2,000 protestors, according to The Hill.
Video footage shared on social media in March shows Khalil among the activists who took over a library at Barnard College, a Columbia affiliate. Activists at the protest handed out pamphlets from the "Hamas Media Office."
