The Trump administration has submitted documents seeking to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a green cardholder who played a major role in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, saying that he was “a target of removal from the United States” in documents obtained by NBC News.
Federal immigration agents arrested 30-year-old Halil in New York City on Saturday and took him briefly to a New Jersey detention center before being transported to a facility in Jena, Louisiana. He is a Palestinian Algerian citizen, married to a US citizen and a legal permanent resident.
The document cited a provision that grants the Secretary of State the authority to deport someone if it is determined that it will “have serious foreign policy implications on the United States.”
“The Secretary of State has determined that your presence or activity in the United States will have a serious and unfavorable foreign policy impact on the United States,” he continued.
According to documents obtained by NBC News, the agency issued a notice of appearance before an immigration judge in the deportation proceedings, setting up a hearing on March 27 at a Louisiana detention center. The DHS said Khalil “refused to sign” the document.
The deportation procedure for those with green cards is handled by the immigration court system. There, an immigration judge decides whether or not they can ultimately deport someone.
A federal judge temporarily blocked Halil’s deportation on Monday, and said he would remain in the United States as the court weighs his arrest and challenges to detention. The case follows Khalil in the immigration court to determine whether he should be deported, as ordered by the DHS, and stolen his green card.
Immigration law experts say the immigration court system supports the government, but green cardholders have certain rights, such as attorney rights and hearing before an immigration judge.
NBC News obtained the document Wednesday hours after a federal judge in New York heard about the debate over Halil’s arrest and detention.
His lawyers hoped he would be released from Louisiana Detention Center and returned to New York for his immigration lawsuit. Meanwhile, the Trump administration argued that the incident should be moved to New Jersey or Louisiana.
U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman didn’t immediately make a decision Wednesday and asked the parties to attorneys to file a joint letter on Friday detailing further plans for discussion in the detention case.
Attorney Ramji Qassem argued in the court that Khalil was “targeted for his defense of Palestinian rights.” In addition to making Halil “1,000 miles away in Louisiana,” communications with him so far have been monitored by the government. “It hinders his ability to protect him,” Kasem said.
In response, Furman said Halil and his attorneys would mean he will remain in custody in Louisiana for now, with one privileged call on Wednesday and another Thursday.
Attorney Amy Greer said she had contacted Halil and that he was “as mental as they were when they were illegally detained,” but all of their calls have been recorded so far, so they were unable to discuss the case freely. She said she plans to talk to him on an unrecorded line on Wednesday night.
Qassem said Khalil’s legal team plans to quickly file an amended petition with the court later this week, taking into account “significant constitutional outcomes.” He added that Halil has no criminal conviction.
“What happened to Mahmoud Khalil is nothing but surprising, shocking and outrageous,” Kassem said at a press conference after the hearing. “The daily daily Mahmoud spends in detention in Louisiana is too long.”
Advisor Brandon Waterman, a US lawyer representing the government, argued that New York should not be a suitable forum for petitions and instead move to New Jersey or Louisiana.
Because it is linked to jurisdiction, Waterman said “there may be a debate about either New Jersey or Louisiana,” but the Southern New York district said “it’s not appropriate and needs to be moved to another venue.”
In a statement Tuesday night, the wife of Halil, a US citizen and eight months pregnant, said “Mahmoud was torn from me for no reason at all.”
She said the couple returned from Iftar’s dinner as agents from the immigration and customs enforcement agency of Columbia University Housings tracked and faced them. Iftar is a meal that breaks fasting during Muslim observations of the holy month of Ramadan.
The ICE agent told her and his lawyer (telephone) that there is a warrant to cancel Khalil’s student visa, according to court documents. When the lawyer told the agent he had a green card, they replied that they were there to cancel his green card, his lawyer said.
“We were not given a warrant and the ICE officer called our lawyer,” said Khalil’s wife, who was not named in court documents.
“Within a few minutes they handcuffed Mahmoud, took him down the street and forced him into a car with no mark,” she said in a statement. “It was traumatic to watch this play right in front of me. It felt like a scene from a movie I’d never signed up to see.”
In a statement regarding Khalil’s arrest, DHS said it had “led activities in line with Hamas, the designated terrorist group.”
White House Press Director Karoline Leavitt argued that Khalil not only confused classes on university campus, harassed Jewish American students, but also made them feel unsafe on their own university campus, but also distributed Hama propaganda, Pro Hama propaganda with the Hamas logo.
Levitt said she had a flyer on her desk. “I thought about bringing them to this briefing room and sharing them with you guys, but I didn’t think bringing that Prohama propaganda was worthy of the dignity of this room,” she said.
Trump and his administration have not provided evidence of the allegations.
Halil’s lawyer Sama Sisai rejected the Trump administration’s claims and said there was no evidence that Halil provided support of any kind to terrorist organisations.
“This is not something we’re used to in this country, it’s about fighting our constitution directly, moving around the country without people being asked again, without anyone knowing why, where, where, what,” Greer said.
Asked if there was evidence for Halil, who communicates with Hamas on Wednesday, Greer said, “That would be completely opposite of his worth.”
“There’s no reason to believe it. I don’t think anyone who knows him is suggesting that otherwise it has an argument or has something to do with any of these entities, but that’s not what he represents either,” she said.
Halil’s legal team also says that his arrest was a violation of his right to free speech and that he was targeted because of his perspective.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday morning before the hearing that the Halil incident was not about freedom of speech. “This is about people who don’t have the right to be in the US in the first place,” he said.
When asked whether Rubio’s claim would be upheld in court, Greer said she disagrees with his statement.
“This country gave him a green card. He’s been vetted by this country and this country has discovered that he is the person we want to have here,” she said.
Adam Cox, a law professor and immigration expert at New York University, said the immigration nationality law provisions are used only in rare circumstances in which the administration cited for the Khalil deportation case.
“If the administration starts using it extensively, they will arrest people and assert that they can be deported, which will be a major change from historical practice,” he said.
At least 20 demonstrators protested Khalil’s arrest after Wednesday’s hearing as at least 18 police officers stood on the other side of the street.
Halil’s arrest “doesn’t make Jews safer,” Rabbi Israel Dovid Weiss said at the demonstration. Weiss, who identified himself as an anti-Zionist Jew and opposed to the Israeli government, said he believes the Trump administration “must stop slandering students who are standing up for what they believe are right.”
