An immigration judge in Louisiana noted on Friday that the Trump administration could expel Mahmoud Khalil, granting the government an early victory in his efforts to suppress pro-Palestinian demonstrations on American university campuses.
The decision is far from the last word to find out if Mr. Khalil, a graduate of Columbia University and a legal permanent resident, will be expelled. His lawyers will continue their fight in Louisiana and New Jersey, arguing that he had been targeted for a speech protected by the Constitution.
Constitutional questions at the heart of the case will most likely get a more complete audience before the New Jersey Federal Court than in Louisiana on Friday. For the moment, the decision of the judge there, Jamee E. Comans, affirmed the extraordinary power that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, affirmed target of any non-citizen of deportation.
“The ministry has fulfilled its burden to establish the release with clear and convincing evidence,” said the judge on the end of a hearing before an immigration court of Jena, in the.
Mr. Khalil directed pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Columbia campus last year, and Mr. Rubio relied on a rarely cited law, declaring that his presence in the United States has harmed the interest of the American foreign policy of the cessation of anti-Semitism.
The Coman Judge concluded that the Government had fulfilled the burden of evidence that the law requires, which was effectively a service note from Mr. Rubio declaring that Mr. Khalil’s presence in the country has enabled anti -Semitism. The Department of Internal Security does not seem to have submitted other concrete evidence to justify the complaint, although it has not publicly published the documents he has filed in his case.
After the Coman Judge rendered his decision, Mr. Khalil, who was otherwise silent throughout the hearing, criticized him harshly.
“I would like to quote what you said the last time, that there is nothing more important for this court than the rights of the regular procedure and fundamental equity,” he said. “Obviously, what we have witnessed today, none of these principles was present today or in this whole process. This is exactly why the Trump administration sent me to this court, to 1,000 miles from my family.”
Immigration judges are employees of the executive power, and not of the judiciary, and often approve of the expulsion efforts of the Department of Internal Security. It would be unusual for such a judge, in the service of the American prosecutor general, to tackle the constitutional issues raised by the case of Mr. Khalil. It would also run the risk of being dismissed by an administration that targeted the dissidents.
“This court is without competence to entertain the challenges of the validity of this law under the Constitution,” said the judge, having made his decision, apparently reading a written declaration.
She denied requests from Mr. Khalil’s lawyers, whether they are authorized to oppose or to file Mr. Rubio so that he can develop his assertions. “This court is neither inclined nor authorized” to oblige this testimony, she said.
The decision of the Coman Judge occurred at the end of a remarkable hearing of almost two hours in the Lasalle Immigration short in Jena, Louisiana. Mr. Khalil was there in person, wearing a combination of the navy and holding a series of prayer pearls.
Most of the time, Mr. Khalil’s lawyers, who have set up, both broad and technical, against Mr. Rubio’s memo and other statements that the Trump administration made about Mr. Khalil concerning his immigration documents.
Mr. Khalil’s lawyers noted that he had declared in remarks on CNN that “anti -Semitism and any form of racism did not have their place on the campus and in this movement” and that the Jewish demonstrators were “an integral part of this movement”.
The judge on a cmano was especially calm during the hearing. It focused mainly on preventing the parties from interrupting while affirming that it was interested in considering only one question: if Mr. Khalil could be withdrawn from the United States under the law.
“I will hear the parties on the move and that’s it,” she said.
She refused to allow Mr. Khalil’s lawyers to respond to their other requests, in particular to delay the hearing so that she can review the evidence. Nor would she allow the Department of Internal Security to introduce new accusations against Mr. Khalil during the hearing.
Internal security officials accused Mr. Khalil of having made paperwork errors who, according to them, strengthen the case to expel him. They say that he has not dressed in disclosing the extent or duration of his membership of several organizations, including a United Nations agency that helps Palestinian refugees, when he asked to become a permanent resident of the United States last March.
Friday, the lawyers of Mr. Khalil spent a large part of their time searching the holes in these arguments, and the Coman Judge refused to reign over the additional allegations.
When Coman Judge rendered his decision, Mr. Khalil’s supporters in the room, including members of the New York section of Jewish Voices for Peace, began to cry. Mr. Khalil rolled up his prayer pearls in his hands.
“Don’t worry,” he told his supporters, thanking them for being there.
Marc Van der Hout, lawyer for Mr. Khalil, said in a statement after the hearing that “it’s not over, and our fight continues. If Mahmoud can be targeted in this way, simply to express themselves for the Palestinians and exercise his constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression, this can happen to anyone for any problem that Trump administration did not hear. “
Mr. Khalil’s immigration affair is now going to what is known as “rescue stadium”, in which his lawyers will be able to plead for his right to stay in the country. If they lose, they can appeal, first of all to an immigration council and then to a federal court.
But questions of freedom of expression and regular procedure looming on the case can first be examined by the New Jersey Federal Court, where Mr. Khalil’s lawyers are also fighting for his release. The judge supervising this case in Newark, Michael Farbiarz, ordered the government not to withdraw Mr. Khalil from the country.
Friday, judge Farbiarz asked lawyers the government and Mr. Khalil to inform him as soon as possible about the results of the hearing of Louisiana.
Alena Maschke Jena’s contributed relationships, La.
