US judge rules pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported

A United States immigration judge has ruled that the deportation case against Mahmoud Khalil can proceed, a month after the Columbia University graduate student was detained over his involvement in pro-Palestine protests.

Judge Jamee Comans made the determination on Friday at the end of a nearly two-hour hearing in the US state of Louisiana, saying the government had “established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable”.

Khalil – a US permanent resident – can appeal the decision.

“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,” one of his lawyers, Marc Van Der Hout, said in a statement after the hearing.

“This is not over, and our fight continues,” he added.

Khalil’s case has drawn widespread scrutiny as rights advocates accuse President Donald Trump’s administration of cracking down on free speech and pro-Palestine activism under the guise of fighting anti-Semitism.

The administration is trying to deport Khalil under a rarely used provision of an immigration law that gives the secretary of state the power to remove any non-citizen whose presence in the US is deemed to have “adverse foreign policy consequences”.

The government has not charged Khalil with a crime.