An immigration judge in Louisiana found on Friday that the Trump administration could deport Mahmoud Khalil, granting the government an early victory in its efforts to crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on U.S. college campuses.
The ruling is far from the final word on whether Mr. Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident, will be deported. His lawyers will continue their fight in Louisiana and New Jersey, arguing that he has been targeted for constitutionally protected speech.
The constitutional issues at the heart of the case will most likely get a fuller hearing in federal court in New Jersey than they did in Louisiana on Friday. For the time being, the decision by the judge there, Jamee E. Comans, affirmed the extraordinary power that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has asserted to target any noncitizen for deportation.
“The department has met its burden to establish removability by clear and convincing evidence,” Judge Comans said toward the end of a hearing at an immigration court in Jena, La.
In Mr. Khalil’s case, Mr. Rubio relied on a rarely cited law, declaring that the Columbia graduate’s presence in the United States harmed the American foreign policy interest of stopping antisemitism.
Judge Comans found that the government had met the burden of evidence that the law requires, which effectively amounted to a letter from Mr. Rubio declaring that Mr. Khalil’s presence in the country enabled antisemitism. The Homeland Security Department appears not to have submitted any other concrete evidence substantiating the claim, although it has not publicly released the documents it has filed in his case.
