Immigration Judge Orders Deportation of Anti-Israel Agitator Mahmoud Khalil

Khalil served as spokesperson for the Gaza Solidarity Encampments at Columbia, often appearing unmasked at the front lines of protests that disrupted campus operations and created hostile environments for Jewish students.

By JBN Staff

A federal immigration judge has ordered the deportation of pro-Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil after finding he willfully omitted politically sensitive affiliations from his green card application, including work with UNRWA and membership in an anti-Israel campus coalition.

Khalil served as spokesperson for the Gaza Solidarity Encampments at Columbia, often appearing unmasked at the front lines of protests that disrupted campus operations and created hostile environments for Jewish students. He was detained by ICE officials for over three months in Louisiana before being released in June, often being spotted attending anti-Israel protests across the country.

However, Judge Jamee Comans ruled on Wednesday to deport the anti-Israel agitator, citing evidence that the 30-year-old had deliberately withheld material information in his 2024 residency application.

Khalil failed to report that he worked as a political affairs officer for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from June to November 2023, a period that overlapped with Hamas’s October 7 massacre on Israel. Multiple investigations have revealed UNRWA employees participated in the terrorist assault, leading to funding cuts and personnel terminations.

Khalil also omitted his membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the anti-Israel campus coalition that orchestrated disruptive protests demanding the university divest from companies doing business with Israel. Additionally, he failed to report employment with the Syria Office at the British Embassy in Beirut that extended beyond 2022.

“The defendant understood the consequences and that the candid disclosure of his affiliations might lead to an additional line of questioning and the ultimate denial of his application for conditional permanent residency,” Comans ruled. “This Court cannot and will not condone such an action by granting a discretionary waiver.”

Khalil now faces removal to either Algeria, where he holds citizenship, or Syria, his country of birth. His attorneys have thirty days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. However, Khalil’s legal team expressed pessimism about the prospects, noting in court filings that they expect the appeals process to be “swift” and that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals “almost never” grants stays of removal to noncitizens.

Khalil responded defiantly to the ruling, calling it retaliation and describing the immigration court proceedings as a “kangaroo court.”

“It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech. Their latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again,” Khalil said in a statement through his lawyers.

“When their first effort to deport me was set to fail, they resorted to fabricating baseless and ridiculous allegations in a bid to silence me for speaking out and standing firmly with Palestine, demanding an end to the ongoing genocide,” he continued. “Such fascist tactics will never deter me from continuing to advocate for my people’s liberation.”