Jewish students chain themselves to the gates of Columbia University on April 2, 2025, demanding accountability from the trustees following the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil. Photo: Michael Nigro/Sipa USA via AP Images
From a small courtroom in a remote immigration jail in Jena, Louisiana, Judge Jamee Comans ruled on Friday that the government can deport Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil based solely on his advocacy for Palestine.
Comans made her decision after weighing a single piece of evidence from the government, submitted in court two days earlier: a one-and-a-half-page letter written by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in which he stated that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
Friday’s decision represents a major blow to Khalil and other protesters targeted by the Trump administration. But Khalil’s attorneys promised the fight would continue in the courts. ….more