In a major legal win for the Trump administration, an immigration judge in Louisiana has allowed the government to proceed with its deportation case against anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Judge Jamee Comans, following a nearly two-hour hearing, ruled that the government’s determination that Mr. Khalil poses “adverse foreign policy consequences” for America is “facially reasonable.” The order affirms Secretary of State Rubio’s broad authority over the deportation of non-citizens and sets a precedent for hundreds of other students whose visas have been revoked by the administration. 

Mr. Khalil, who has been held in a detention facility in Louisiana since his arrest last month, will not be deported immediately, however. Judge Comans gave Mr. Khalil’s legal team until April 23 to file an application for relief to halt his deportation. 

The ruling appeared to stun courthouse attendees, with some supporters weeping as Judge Comans issued her ruling. Mr. Khalil’s legal team declared after the ruling that “This is not over, and our fight continues.” 

The decision comes a few days after the government was ordered to release their evidence against the embattled student activist. Judge Comans, who issued the ruling on Tuesday, decreed that if Mr. Khalil is “not removable, I don’t want him to continue to be detained.” 

The government submitted a two-page memo from Mr. Rubio which reiterated that the administration, under section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, has authority to deport any non-citizen who holds “beliefs, statements or associations” that threaten American foreign policy interests. 

In the filing, Mr. Rubio alleged that Mr. Khalil participated in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities” that foster “a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.” As such, Mr. Khalil’s presence in America threatens “U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States,” Mr. Rubio wrote.  

Mr. Khalil’s lawyer, Marc Van Der Hout, chided the memo for having “no there there at all” and critiqued the government for invoking a “rarely-used” immigration law. 

He also questioned the government’s claim that his client participated in antisemitic protests, and suggested that the case “is really about” whether “lawful permanent residents” are allowed to “speak out about Israel’s brutal attacks on Gaza, or any other important matters of discussion in the national discourse, without fear of deportation for expressing beliefs that the First Amendment completely protects.” 

Mr. Khalil, who was born in Syria but holds citizenship in Algeria, was arrested by immigration officers last month after the State Department revoked his visa and green card over his alleged support for Hamas. The 30-year-old graduated in December with a master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs and, during his schooling, served as one of the ringleaders of the anti-Israel student encampment movement that has roiled Columbia since October 7, 2023.

The anti-Israel group that Mr. Khalil was closely affiliated with, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, has been behind some of the most virulent anti-Israel campus protests in the country and shares what can only be described as pro-terror, anti-West content on its well-followed Instagram account. 

Not only does the student group advocate for violent resistance against Zionism, but it has also professed its goal of “fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization.” Mr. Khalil most recently participated in a protest at Barnard College during which students illegally occupied a campus library and handed out pamphlets authored by the “Hamas Media Office.” 

The student activist’s arrest sparked a fierce debate over free speech and the government’s authority to expel non-citizens. Mr. Khalil’s lawyers argue that their client’s arrest reflects an effort by the administration to repress pro-Palestinian speech and is in violation of the First Amendment. Mr. Rubio, who personally signed off on the order to detain the student activist, maintains that the case “is not about free speech” but “about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with,” he told reporters last month.  

The government alleged in an earlier legal filing that Mr. Khalil committed immigration fraud by lying on his green card application about his employment history. 

Mr. Khalil reportedly failed to report his membership at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a UN group which has been accused of aiding Hamas and employing people who participated in the October 7 massacre. He also allegedly withheld his previous employment at the Syria office of the British Embassy at Beirut as well as his work with the anti-Israel student group at Columbia, Columbia University Apartheid Divest. 

The student activist was among the first to be targeted by the administration as it cracks down on antisemitism on college campuses and his case is expected to set a key precedent for other deported non-citizen students. Since Mr. Khalil’s arrest, upwards of 380 students across 78 universities have had their visas revoked, though not all of the cases are linked to pro-hamas or antisemitic behavior.