April 10 (UPI) -- Mahmoud Khalil, a former student at Columbia University targeted by the Trump administration for his Palestinian activism, was found to be removable Thursday by the Board of Immigration Appeals -- an executive branch court.
The BIA issued a "final" administrative removal order in his case, which was an appeal of his earlier removal ruling that would have had him deported to Syria or Algeria.
But Khalil can't be removed or detained while his separate, ongoing habeas corpus case is in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. His team said it will also appeal the BIA's ruling to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Khalil is a lawful permanent resident.
"I am not surprised by this decision from the biased and politically motivated Board of Immigration Appeals. I have committed no crime. I have broken no law. The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine -- and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it," Mahmoud Khalil said in a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union.
