Feds submit more evidence for Khalil's deportation

 National Review:

The Department of Justice alleged over the weekend that Mahmoud Khalil, the anti-Israel activist at Columbia University that the Trump administration is seeking to deport, omitted his past work for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and other organizations when applying to become a permanent U.S. resident last year.

The federal government lodged new accusations against Khalil in a Sunday filing, arguing the key omissions are grounds for deportation.

“It is black-letter law that misrepresentations in this context are not protected speech,” the DOJ’s court filing states. “Thus, Khalil’s First Amendment allegations are a red herring, and there is an independent basis to justify removal sufficient to foreclose Khalil’s constitutional claim here.”

Khalil allegedly failed to disclose his employment at UNRWA, which lasted from June to November 2023. His job title was political affairs officer, but an UNRWA spokesperson told CNN that he was only an unpaid intern and never on staff.

Notably, his short time at the controversial humanitarian agency overlapped with Hamas’s massacre on October 7, 2023. Some UNRWA staffers have been accused of participating in the terrorist attack on Israel. As a result, the Biden administration banned federal funding to the organization for one year, before President Donald Trump ordered an end to U.S. participation in UNRWA last month.

Khalil entered the U.S. on a student visa in December 2022 and obtained his green card in November 2024, according to the DOJ. He was arrested earlier this month by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for his anti-Israel, pro-Hamas activism during post-October 7 protests at Columbia.

The DOJ also alleged Khalil, a Syrian native and Algerian citizen, did not disclose his continuing employment at the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, at the time of his green card application. Additionally, he failed to mention he was a member of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the anti-Israel group that organized numerous antisemitic protests at the New York school.

Because he “withheld membership in certain organizations,” the Trump administration says the Columbia graduate should be removed from the country.

While the DOJ argues free speech doesn’t protect actions that conflict with U.S. foreign policy, Khalil’s lawyers contend their client’s political speech is covered by the First Amendment and claim he has been unconstitutionally detained.
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It is not clear to which country Khalil would be deported, but Syria may be the best target for that.   I am pretty sure that Israel would have no interest in his moving there.  His participation in the events of October 7 are another reason to remove him from the US.