An immigration judge has given the Trump administration a deadline to provide evidence against Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil to justify stripping his immigration status and deporting him.
Louisiana Judge Jamee Comans, in a Tuesday hearing, gave the federal government until Wednesday to provide evidence against Khaliil, a 30-year-old legal resident who has been kept in a detention facility over the past few weeks, according to Politico.
“I’d like to see the evidence,” Comans said. If the government cannot produce justification for removing Khalil, she added, “then I am going to terminate the case on Friday.”
Appearing by video conference, Khalil’s California-based attorney, Marc Van Der Hout, told the judge 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.
Khalil became the first college student to face deportation for his involvement in the protests against Israel. Several others have been apprehended since his arrest on March 8.
The federal government has sought to deport Khalil and other students under a rarely-used statute that authorizes the Secretary of State to expel noncitizens who pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
They have alleged, without providing evidence, that Khalil’s prominent role in anti-Israel protests amounted to support for Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza and attacked Israel in October 2023.
In another high-profile incident, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested Tufts University student Rumesya Ozturk for similar reasons. Footage of her arrest went viral on social media.
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NEW: I’ve obtained new footage of the abduction of Tufts student Runeysa Ozturk which includes audio of her kidnappers. pic.twitter.com/gucwFxdnOi
— Daniel Boguslaw (@DRBoguslaw) March 26, 2025
Ozturk’s arrest raised even more questions about the targeting of foreign students. DHS has not yet provided evidence that she supported Hamas. However, she co-authored an op-ed criticizing the school for its support of Israel.
The Jerusalem Post reported that four more Columbia University students had their visas revoked on Monday over their involvement in anti-Israel protests.
Columbia said in a Monday statement that it had learned that four current international students had their visas revoked, and only became aware of their status -- as with many of the institutions -- during review of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) database. Columbia assured that its International Students and Scholars Office was monitoring SEVIS for any changes and would notify students accordingly.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently announced that his agency has revoked over 300 visas so far. "We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campus. We've given you a visa and you decide to do that — we're going to take it away,” he said during a press conference.”
Critics argue that the Trump administration’s actions are a violation of free speech – especially since none of the individuals have been charged with a crime. Eric Lee, a lawyer representing one of the students told NPR that “This is what happens in a dictatorship, and these are test cases.”
If the government can get away with doing this to these students, it can do it to everybody in this country. Your citizenship won't save you. ... Your views will be next.
Others have pointed to Khalil’s affiliation with Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which praised Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians as a “moral, military, and political victory.”
The student also allegedly distributed pamphlets touting “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” which is Hamas’ code name for the October 7 surprise attack.
However, Khalil has denied being antisemitic. “My unjust detention is indicative of the anti-Palestinian racism that both the Biden and Trump administrations have demonstrated over the past 16 months as the U.S. has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevent international intervention,” he wrote in a letter penned in the detention facility.
Editor's Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.
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