Attorneys for Columbia College activist Mahmoud Khalil argued on Thursday that the federal government didn’t current proof to show that his presence within the U.S. poses an antagonistic international coverage consequence, which the Trump administration has argued is the bottom for his deportation from the U.S.
Khalil is scheduled to look earlier than an immigration decide in Louisiana on Friday, a listening to that comes after the decide gave the federal government a deadline earlier this week to current proof to again up a number of allegations made towards Khalil, together with that he misrepresented info on his inexperienced card utility.
Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at his Columbia housing final month. He’s a inexperienced card holder and authorized everlasting resident married to an American citizen, who’s 9 months pregnant.
The federal government entered into proof a two-page memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that he discovered that Khalil’s presence within the U.S. “would compromise a compelling U.S. international coverage curiosity.”
The memo makes no point out of earlier allegations that he misrepresented info on his inexperienced card utility and as an alternative doubles down on an obscure part of the Immigration and Nationality Act that deems migrants deportable “if the Secretary of State has affordable floor to consider that the alien’s presence or actions in the US would have doubtlessly severe antagonistic international coverage penalties for the US.”
The 2-page memo additionally makes the case for why one other individual, whose identify is redacted, ought to be deportable below the identical arguments.
Within the memo, Rubio asserts he has the ability to find out an individual is deportable even when their actions are “in any other case lawful.”
Rubio wrote that Khalil ought to be deported due to his alleged function in “antisemitic protests and disruptive actions, which fosters a hostile surroundings for Jewish college students in the US.”
Marc Van Der Hout, certainly one of Khalil’s attorneys, sharply criticized the memo throughout a Zoom press convention on Thursday.
Rubio “talks about First Modification exercise in the US and the impact on individuals within the U.S. His ‘dedication’ has completely nothing to do with international coverage.”
Scholar negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is on the Columbia College campus in New York at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on April 29, 2024.
Ted Shaffrey/AP
Van Der Hout additionally described as “bogus” the sooner allegations about alleged misrepresentations on Khalil’s visa utility and concerning negotiations he was concerned in with Columbia over the scholar encampment.
“However it’s zero to do with the international coverage cost, and there’s zero assist for the federal government’s allegations about any misrepresentation,” Van Der Hout stated. “We’re not involved with that in any respect.”
Khalil’s attorneys stated they do not consider the federal government has introduced any proof to counsel he ought to be detachable below the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The case may set the precedent that the federal government can silence its critics and take away them, in what can develop into “a harmful slope,” Van Der Hout stated.
“What the Rubio letter talks about is that they’re making an attempt to guard — they are saying — Jewish individuals in the US, from antisemitism. However what’s the antisemitism? It’s criticizing Israel and the US for the slaughtering that is occurring in Gaza and Palestine,” Van Der Hout stated.
“That is what this case is about, and that is what this case is de facto centered on, the rights of individuals on this nation, residents and immigrants alike — who’re all protected by the Structure, by the First Modification — to have the ability to converse out no matter their views could also be, fashionable or not,” Van Der Hout stated.
Khalil’s attorneys plan to request to depose Rubio in court docket to know what grounds he needed to make the dedication that Khalil’s presence within the US poses a threat to U.S. international coverage pursuits.
Mahmoud Khalil speaks to members of media in regards to the Revolt for Rafah encampment at Columbia College through the ongoing battle between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, in New York, June 1, 2024.
Jeenah Moon/Reuters, FILE
The immigration decide has stated she’s going to make a discovering on whether or not Khalil is detachable on Friday, in line with Khalil’s attorneys.
“However we’re removed from the tip of the street if that occurs,” Johnny Sinodis, a lawyer and companion at Van Der Hout who’s representing Khalil, stated Thursday. If the immigration decide determines that Khalil is, in truth, detachable, the case will transfer right into a subsequent section however Khalil can nonetheless litigate his proper to stay within the U.S.
“This course of performs out in immigration court docket, and it’ll most definitely require a number of extra hearings earlier than a ultimate resolution could be made within the immigration case,” Sinodis stated.
