Thu Sep 18 04:50:27 UTC 2025: **News Article:**

**Pro-Palestine Activist Faces Deportation After Judge Finds Green Card Application Discrepancies**

**Washington D.C.** – Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent pro-Palestine activist and former Columbia University graduate student, is facing deportation to Algeria or Syria after an immigration judge ruled he withheld key information on his green card application. Judge Jamee Comans in Louisiana accused Khalil, who played a leading role in protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, of a “lack of candor” for allegedly failing to disclose ties to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a group advocating for a boycott of Israel.

Court documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reveal that Judge Comans issued the deportation order on September 12, stating that Khalil “willfully misrepresented material facts” to circumvent the immigration process.

Khalil’s legal team intends to appeal the ruling. They point to an existing federal court order that prohibits the government from immediately deporting or detaining Khalil while his federal case proceeds. They have 30 days from the deportation ruling to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Khalil was initially arrested in March as part of a broader crackdown on pro-Palestine activism on college campuses. A U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz later ruled that Khalil’s detention was unconstitutional, stating that the Trump administration likely violated his free speech rights by attempting to deport him under a controversial provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

According to Khalil’s lawyers, the current effort to deport him is a pivot from the administration’s earlier attempts, which focused on his activism being portrayed as anti-Jewish and supportive of Hamas. The lawyers expressed concern that the recent deportation ruling removes the last barrier to his deportation.

Khalil, in a statement released by the ACLU, accused the Trump administration of using “fascist tactics” to retaliate against him for his pro-Palestine activism. He stated that the allegations against him are fabricated and aimed at silencing him for speaking out against the “ongoing genocide” in Gaza.

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