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Judge Rules Trump Admin Can Deport Mahmoud Khalil for His Beliefs

HeadlineApr 14, 2025

An immigration judge ruled Friday that abducted Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil can be deported for taking part in student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza. The government’s removal case against Khalil will continue in Louisiana while a separate case in a federal court in New Jersey proceeds, challenging the Trump administration’s claims it can remove people whose “beliefs, statements or associations” it deems are counter to foreign policy interests. Protesters took to the streets of New York City on Saturday.

Salma Allam: “I thought that our democracy is under threat, that we are supposed to live in a country where people have rights, where people have First Amendment rights, have the right to freedom of speech, have the right to protest, have the right to take the streets. And I thought that this is under attack. If they can come for Mahmoud, then they can come for any of us.”

We’ll have the latest on Mahmoud Khalil’s case after headlines with one of his lawyers, Diala Shamas.

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