Judge rules Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from US

Khalil, a pro-Palestinian protester, has an American wife about to give birth.

An immigration judge ruled Friday that Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from the U.S.

The stunning move may have repercussions on other international students who have been targeted by the administration.

The judge has given Khalil's lawyers a deadline of April 23 to file applications for relief to stop his deportation. The judge said if they failed to make the deadline she would file an order of removal to either Syria or Algeria.

Judge Jamee Comans found Khalil is removable under Secretary of State Marco Rubio's assertion that his continued presence and actions in the country poses "adverse foreign policy consequence."

The hearing came after the judge gave the government a deadline earlier this week to present evidence to back up several allegations it made against Khalil as grounds to deport him from the U.S., including that he misrepresented information on his green card application.

While a student at Columbia University, Khalil was part of a leadership group protesting the war in Gaza. Khalil took part in negotiations with school administrators demanding the institution cut ties with Israel and divest from Israeli companies. Khalil finished his graduate studies at Columbia in December and is set to graduate in the spring.

Khalil -- a green card holder and legal permanent resident married to an American citizen who is nine months pregnant -- was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at his Columbia housing in March.

The government on Thursday entered into evidence a two-page memo signed by Rubio saying that he found Khalil's presence in the U.S. "would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest."

Attorneys for Khalil argued in a press conference on Thursday that the government -- which entered the letter and other documents into evidence Wednesday -- did not present evidence that Khalil's presence in the U.S. poses an adverse foreign policy consequence.

The government has argued, under an obscure 1952 federal law called the Immigration and Nationality Act, that it believes migrants are deportable "if the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe that the alien's presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."

Attorneys for Khalil argued that determination is for a judge to make, after the government presents evidence.

The memo signed by Rubio also makes the case that another person, whose name is redacted, should be deportable under the same law.

Rubio wrote that Khalil should be deported because of his alleged role in "antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States."

Marc Van Der Hout, one of Khalil's attorneys, sharply criticized the memo during a Zoom press conference on Thursday.

Rubio "talks about First Amendment activity in the United States and the effect on people in the U.S. His 'determination' has absolutely nothing to do with foreign policy," Van Der Hout said.

Khalil's attorneys said the government did not present evidence as to the alleged misrepresented information Khalil made on his green card application.