NEW YORK (Reuters) — A U.S. judge said on Wednesday the Trump administration’s bid to deport Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey said he will issue a further order with next steps later on Wednesday. Khalil is currently in immigration detention in Louisiana.
Khalil was arrested on March 8 after the State Department revoked his green card under a little-used provision of U.S. immigration law granting the U.S. secretary of state the power to seek the deportation of any non-citizen whose presence in the country is deemed adverse to U.S. foreign policy interests.
Farbiarz wrote that Khalil was likely to succeed in his argument that the provision “is unconstitutional as applied to him.”
Khalil was the first known foreign student to be arrested as part of President Donald Trump’s bid to deport foreign students who took part in pro-Palestinian protests that swept U.S. college campuses after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent military assault.
