Mahmoud Khalil case: When will Columbia activist be deported? Judge Jamee Comans says…

Immigration judge Jamee E Comans on Friday ruled that pro-Palestinian student activist and former Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from the US. She added that the Trump administration had ‘met its burden’ to prove it had grounds to deport Khalil.

"Today, we saw our worst fears play out: 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. This is not over, and our fight continues," Khalil's lawyer, Marc van der Hout, said in a statement.

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When will Mahmoud Khalil be deported?

Per the Friday ruling by Judge Comans, Khalil will not face immediate deportation. His attorneys have until April 23, 2025, to file applications for relief to halt his deportation to either Syria or Algeria. If they miss this deadline, Comans indicated she would order his deportation, but no specific date for deportation was set in the ruling.

Khalil was arrested on March 8 and taken to Louisiana. His detention sparked several demonstrations across university campuses. In a letter to the court, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that Khalil's activism could hurt Washington's foreign policy.

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“Condoning antisemitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” Rubio's memo stated.

Khalil asked the court to consider his ‘fundamental fairness’.

"I would like to quote what you said last time that there's nothing that's more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness. Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present," Khalil told the court according to his legal team.