Meet Jamee Comans, judge who allowed Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil's deportation
Immigration judge Jamee Comans on Friday ruled against Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil
Immigration judge Jamee Comans on Friday ruled against Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, allowing the Trump administration to deport the graduate. His legal team has been given a little under two weeks to respond.
Comans cited a 1952 law that allows the Secretary of State to expel noncitizens deemed to pose ‘potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences’. She stated she lacked authority to overrule the Secretary’s determination, though she gave Khalil’s legal team until April 23, 2025, to seek relief from deportation.
Read More: Pressed for evidence against Mahmoud Khalil, government cites its power to deport people for beliefs
The ruling comes after Khalil was arrested on March 8. He has been in a Louisiana detention center for over a month. The Columbia activist's arrest triggered several protests across university campuses.
Who is Jamee Comans?
Jamee E Comans is an Assistant Chief Immigration Judge based in Louisiana, appointed to her role in January 2023 by the US Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. She oversees immigration cases, including high-profile ones like that of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist.
She earned a Bachelor of Science in 2005 from St Leo University and a Juris Doctorate in 2008 from Mississippi College School of Law. From 2021 to 2022, she was an Immigration Judge at LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana. Between 2018 and 2021, she held the position of Deputy Chief Counsel for the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Jena and Oakdale, Louisiana. From 2012 to 2018, she was Assistant Chief Counsel for OPLA, ICE, in Memphis, Tennessee. Earlier, from 2009 to 2012, she worked as an Associate Attorney at the Law Offices of Matt Greenbaum LLP in New Orleans. Comans also served in the US Navy Reserve from 2001 to 2022. She is a member of the Mississippi Bar.
