Pressed for evidence against Mahmoud Khalil, government cites its power
to deport people for beliefs
[April 11, 2025]
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — Facing a deadline from an immigration judge to turn over
evidence for its attempted deportation of Columbia University activist
Mahmoud Khalil, the federal government has instead submitted a brief
memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, citing the Trump
administration’s authority to expel noncitizens whose presence in the
country damages U.S. foreign policy interests.
The two-page memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press, does not
allege any criminal conduct by Khalil, a legal permanent U.S. resident
and graduate student who served as spokesperson for campus activists
last year during large demonstrations against Israel's treatment of
Palestinians and the war in Gaza.
Rather, Rubio wrote Khalil could be expelled for his beliefs.
He said that while Khalil's activities were “otherwise lawful,” letting
him remain in the country would undermine “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.”
“Condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United
States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy
objective," Rubio wrote in the undated memo.
The submission was filed Wednesday after Judge Jamee Comans ordered the
government to produce its evidence against Khalil ahead of a hearing
Friday on whether it can continue detaining him during immigration
proceedings.
Attorneys for Khalil said the memo proved the Trump administration was
“targeting Mahmoud’s free speech rights about Palestine.”
“After a month of hiding the ball since Mahmoud’s late-night unjust
arrest in New York and taking him away to a remote detention center in
Louisiana, immigration authorities have finally admitted that they have
no case whatsoever against him,” the attorneys, Marc Van Der Hout and
Johnny Sinodis, said in a joint statement.
“There is not a single shred of proof that Mahmoud’s presence in America
poses any threat,” they added.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, did
not respond to questions about whether it had additional evidence
against Khalil, writing in an emailed statement, “DHS did file evidence,
but immigration court dockets are not available to the public.”
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Khalil, a 30-year-old Palestinian by ethnicity who was born in
Syria, was arrested March 8 in New York and taken to a detention
center in Louisiana. He recently finished his coursework for a
master's degree at Columbia’s school of international affairs. His
wife, an American citizen, is due to give birth this month.
Khalil has adamantly rejected allegations of antisemitism, accusing
the Trump administration in a letter sent from jail last month of
“targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent.”
“Knowing fully that this moment transcends my individual
circumstances,” he added, “I hope nonetheless to be free to witness
the birth of my first-born child.”
Though Rubio's memo references additional documents, including a
“subject profile of Mahmoud Khalil” and letter from the Department
Homeland Security, the government did not submit those documents to
the immigration court, according to Khalil's lawyers.
The memo also calls for the deportation of a second lawful permanent
resident, whose name is redacted in the filing.
The Trump administration has pulled billions of dollars in
government funding from universities and their affiliated hospital
systems in recent weeks as part of what it says is a campaign
against antisemitism on college campuses, but which critics say is a
crackdown on free speech. To get the money back, the administration
has been telling universities to punish protesters and make other
changes.
The U.S. government has also been revoking the visas of
international students who criticized Israel or accused it of
mistreating Palestinians.
At the time of Khalil's arrest, a Department of Homeland Security
spokesperson accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to
Hamas,” referring to the militant group that attacked Israel on Oct.
7, 2023.
But the government has not produced any evidence linking Khalil to
Hamas, and made no reference to the group in their most recent
filing.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Yunseo Chung, 21, another Columbia student
and lawful U.S. resident whom the Department of Homeland Security
seeks to deport, included the Rubio letter as an exhibit in court
papers filed late Thursday in Manhattan federal court.
The lawyers asked a judge to let them obtain documents from the
government related to the targeting of their client, including any
that reference her by name related to the State Department’s
decision to move to deport her.
Chung, who was arrested on a misdemeanor charge at a recent sit-in
at Barnard College protesting the expulsion of students who
participated in pro-Palestinian activism, has been ordered freed
while her legal challenge is pending.
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