Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia College graduate scholar on the middle of final yr’s anti-Israel campus protests, informed an immigration choose Thursday that his deportation would quantity to “suicide.”
Khalil, who was arrested in March, is presently detained at an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana.
The Trump administration is searching for to deport Khalil beneath an obscure nationwide safety provision, arguing his actions current “critical opposed international coverage penalties for the USA” due to his hyperlinks to to the Islamist terror group Hamas.
“I spent time of my life fleeing from hurt and advocating for the marginalized,” Khalil stated. “That’s what put me in peril.
”That’s what I used to be protesting,” he continued. “That’s what I’ll proceed to protest. That is what everybody ought to protest.”
Columbia College scholar Mahmoud Khalil ought to be protected against deportation, which might put his life in danger, his attorneys say. https://t.co/2wWZoOPtUE
— NBC Information (@NBCNews) May 23, 2025
He claims that deporting him to Syria or Algeria would endanger not solely himself however his household.
Khalil added that he fears kidnapping, assassination, torture or the focusing on of his household and that returning to Syria “can be suicide.”
“I’ve been focused for my political opinions,” he stated. “The president labeled me as a terrorist sympathizer.”
”I’ve solely spent one hour in a single month of my son’s life, and that was this morning.”
TERROR: Mahmoud Khalil’s spouse refuses to reply when requested level clean if her husband helps Hamas. She received’t condemn Hamas both. Khalil reportedly handed out supplies from Hamas media workplace, led a motion which held hostages in an illegally hijacked constructing, and was… pic.twitter.com/8Ovj55nfl6
— @amuse (@amuse) March 25, 2025
The 29-year-old activist was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and holds Algerian citizenship.
He was beforehand a inexperienced card holder when arrested, however his residency has since been revoked.
Choose Jamee Comans targeted the listening to on whether or not deportation would expose Khalil to credible hurt.
His attorneys offered testimony from sympathetic teachers and human rights activists, however the courtroom has already dominated his presence within the U.S. is a nationwide safety concern.
In the meantime, Homeland Safety official Tricia McLaughlin stated folks like Khalil can be finest suggested to depart on their very own phrases.
“We’re providing him much more: use the CBP Residence app to self-deport,” she defined.
”The USA is providing unlawful aliens $1,000 apiece and a free flight to self-deport now, which Khalil can benefit from.”
Final month, Khalil compared his experiences at an ICE detention facility to residing in a Nazi focus camp.
Closing arguments are due June 2nd. Till then, Khalil will stay in detention.
