Anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil one step closer to deportation with immigration board ruling

An immigration appeals board has issued a final order of removal for anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil, advancing the Trump administration’s effort to deport the Columbia University graduate, according to his legal team.

The Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ruled Thursday to deny Khalil’s bid to dismiss the case, marking a significant development in the administration’s push to deport him from the U.S.

Khalil, a 31-year-old lawful permanent resident, has been at the center of a broader federal crackdown on noncitizens involved in anti-Israel campus protests tied to the war in Gaza.

He was the first person whose arrest became publicly known as part of the crackdown.

His legal team blasted the decision as "baseless and politically motivated," arguing the government is retaliating against his speech and lacks evidence to support the case.

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"In all my decades as an immigration lawyer, I have never seen such a baseless and politically motivated decision," Khalil’s lead attorney, Marc Van Der Hout, said in a statement issued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

"The BIA's decision has absolutely no support in the record, violates a federal court order, and we’ll be fighting it until the end."
Khalil has also denied allegations of antisemitism.

Officials have also cited a rare foreign policy provision of U.S.

immigration law, sometimes referred to as a "Rubio determination," as well as alleged issues tied to his green card application.

Despite the ruling, Khalil’s attorneys say he cannot be deported while his separate federal habeas case continues to play out in court.

A federal judge in New Jersey previously found the government’s justification for detaining Khalil was likely unconstitutional and ordered his release.

After his arrest, Khalil spent 104 days in immigration detention, missing the birth of his first child before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release.

Khalil later suffered a setback in his federal case when a U.S.

appeals panel ruled that the New Jersey judge overstepped his authority by ordering his release.

In a 2-1 decision, the panel found the case must proceed through the immigration court system before it can be challenged in federal court.

His lawyers are now requesting the full appeals panel reconsider that decision and have asked one of the judges to step aside over his prior role as a Justice Department official involved in investigating student protesters.

Khalil has denied wrongdoing and said the case is an attempt to silence him.

"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," Khalil said in a statement released by the ACLU.

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Khalil, a prominent organizer of anti-Israel protests at Columbia University in 2024 who the Trump administration is seeking to deport, was initially arrested in 2025 at his university-owned apartment in New York City.

Khalil played a major role in protests against Israel that rocked Columbia University in 2024 and met with school officials on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups pushing the university to divest from Israel.

He completed the requirements for a Columbia master’s degree in late 2024.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously defended the Trump administration’s actions following Khalil’s arrest in March, saying he allegedly distributed pro-Hamas propaganda fliers on campus.

"This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans," Leavitt told reporters at a White House press briefing at the time, noting that on her desk were the "pro-Hamas propaganda fliers with the logo of Hamas" on them that Khalil allegedly was distributing.

"We have a zero-tolerance policy for siding with terrorists, period," she said.

Fox News Digital has contacted the Justice Department for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.