Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, immigration judge rules

JENA, La. (AP) — Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be forced out of the country as a national security risk, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled Friday after lawyers argued the legality of deporting the activist who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The government’s contention that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” satisfied requirements for deportation, Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans said at a hearing in Jena.

Comans said the government had “established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable.”

After the immigration court hearing, Khalil attorney Marc Van Der Hout told a New Jersey federal judge that Khalil will appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals within weeks.

“So nothing is going to happen quickly,” he said.

Addressing the judge at the end of the immigration hearing, Khalil recalled her saying at a hearing earlier in the week that “there's nothing more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness."

“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” he added. "This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to the court, 1,000 miles away from my family."

Van Der Hout, also criticized the hearing's fairness.

“Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent," Van Der Hout said in a statement.

Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, was detained by federal immigration agents March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under President Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza.

Within a day, he was flown across the country to an immigration detention center in Jena, far from his attorneys and wife, a U.S. citizen due to give birth soon.

Khalil’s lawyers have challenged the legality of his detention, saying the Trump administration is trying to block free speech protected by the First Amendment.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify Khalil’s deportation, which gives him power to deport those who pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

At Friday’s hearing, Van Der Hout told the judge that the government’s submissions to the court prove the attempt to deport his client “has nothing to do with foreign policy” and said the government is trying to deport him for protected speech.

Khalil, a Palestinian born and raised in Syria after his grandparents were forcibly removed from their ancestral home in Tiberias, isn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia.

The government, however, has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and “pro-Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Khalil, a 30-year-old international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

The university summoned police to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn’t among those arrested.

But images of his maskless face at protests and his willingness to share his name with reporters have drawn scorn from those who viewed the protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused Khalil of “siding with terrorists” but has yet to cite any support for the claim.

Federal judges in New York and New Jersey have ordered the government not to deport Khalil while his case plays out in multiple courts.

The Trump administration has said it is taking at least $400 million in federal funding away from research programs at Columbia and its medical center to punish it for not adequately fighting what it considers to be antisemitism on campus.

Some Jewish students and faculty complained about being harassed during the demonstrations or ostracized because of their faith or their support of Israel.

Immigration authorities have cracked down on other critics of Israel on college campuses, arresting a Georgetown University scholar who had spoken out on social media about the Israel-Gaza war, canceling the student visas of some protesters and deporting a Brown University professor who they said had attended the Lebanon funeral of a leader of Hezbollah, another militant group that has fought with Israel.

Brumback reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporter Larry Neumeister in New York contributed.

A supporter who identified himself as Palestinian is hugged by a fellow supporter after speaking at a news conference outside the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, La., after an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Clergy stand during a news conference of supporters outside the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, La., after an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A supporter holds a sign outside the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, La., after an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Visitors walk into the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, La., during an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Clergy hug outside the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, La., after an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Security personnel stand guard outside the Central Louisiana Ice Processing Center in Jena, La., during an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Supporters leave at the end of a news conference outside the Central Louisiana Ice Processing Center in Jena, La., after an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Human rights attorney Sabrine Mohamed reads a message from Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, after his immigration hearing, outside the Central Louisiana Ice Processing Center in Jena, La., Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Supporters hug outside the Central Louisiana Ice Processing Center in Jena, La., after an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Security personnel stand post outside the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, La., during an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Security personnel stand post outside the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, La., during an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Liv Thomas, candidate for ordination in the Presbyterian Church, speaks outside the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, La., after an immigration hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to revive his struggling government but faced growing calls to resign after a disastrous set of local and regional elections for his Labour Party.

As the final results came in Saturday, Labour suffered a net loss of more than 1,100 local council seats across England, lost control of several local authorities it had held for decades and was booted from power in Wales after 27 years. Anti-immigration party Reform UK gained over 1,300 seats across England and made significant gains in legislative elections in Wales and Scotland.

It was a blunt verdict from voters in elections widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led the center-left party to power less than two years ago.

Here are five things we’ve learned from the elections.

Starmer insisted he would not walk away and "plunge the country into chaos,” and the dire election results did not produce an immediate challenge to his leadership.

"The right thing to do is rebuild and show the path forward,” Starmer said Saturday. “That’s what I’m going to do in the coming days.”

Starmer’s Cabinet colleagues expressed support, and none of the high-profile Labour politicians considered potential challengers has made a move. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham are keeping quiet for now.

But a growing number of Labour lawmakers urged the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure this year. British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a new election.

“There has to be a timetable,” legislator Clive Betts told the BBC. Another lawmaker, Tony Vaughan, said there should be an “orderly transition of leadership.”

Starmer tried to demonstrate change on Saturday by bringing back two figures from past Labour governments. He made former Prime Minister Gordon Brown a special envoy on global finance, and appointed the party's ex-deputy leader Harriet Harman an adviser on women and girls.

Starmer is due to make a speech on Monday in an attempt to regain momentum, before the government sets out its legislative plans on Wednesday in a speech delivered by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament.

The elections were a breakthrough for Reform UK, the latest hard-right party led by the veteran nationalist politician Nigel Farage.

Running on an anti-establishment and anti-immigration message, the party won hundreds of local council seats in working-class areas in England’s north, such as Sunderland, that were solid Labour turf for decades. It also made gains from the Conservatives in areas like the county of Essex, east of London, and increased its vote share in Wales and Scotland, new terrain for the party.

Farage said the results marked a “historic change in British politics.” He said he's confident that “voters who have come to us are not doing it as a short-term protest.”

Reform UK currently holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons and it’s unclear whether it could repeat its success in a national election.

The elections produced semiautonomous administrations in Scotland and Wales led by parties devoted to independence and the breakup of the United Kingdom — though neither has that policy on the front burner.

The Scottish National Party, which has governed in Edinburgh since 2007, won another term but fell short of a majority, meaning an independence referendum is unlikely. Labour and Reform tied in a distant second place.

Plaid Cymru (The Party of Wales) won the most seats in the Cardiff-based legislature, the Senedd. The party, which has an ambition for Wales to leave the U.K. but no plan to do so anytime soon, fell short of a majority but will likely form the new government. Reform came second and Labour a distant third in one of its most historic heartlands, with outgoing First Minister Eluned Morgan losing her seat.

The economy lies at the heart of Labour’s troubles, as it does for many incumbent governments.

Since ending 14 years of Conservative rule roiled by austerity and the COVID-19 pandemic, Labour has struggled to ease the cost of living and jump-start a sluggish economy against the tough economic backdrop of war in Ukraine and, more recently, Iran. Starmer also has angered supporters with attempts to cut welfare spending, some of which were reversed after Labour revolts.

Some in Labour say the government's achievements, including protections for renters and a higher minimum wage, are going unnoticed. Many blame Starmer, an uninspiring leader distracted by scandals including his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

But Stephen Houghton, the outgoing leader of Barnsley council in northern England, where Labour lost to Reform, said the problem “goes deeper than the prime minister.”

“This has been coming for 30 years around the country, in post-industrial communities, coastal communities, that have been left behind,” he said. “You can change prime ministers all day long. If you don’t change policy, it’s not going to change.”

The results reflect a fragmentation of U.K. politics after decades of domination by Labour and the Conservative Party, which also suffered major losses on Thursday.

The elections offered voters a rainbow of choices, including the centrist Liberal Democrats and the nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales.

But the big winners were populist insurgents, Reform UK and the Green Party, whose focus has expanded from the environment to social justice and the Palestinian cause under self-described “eco populist” leader Zack Polanski. The Greens won hundreds of council seats from Labour in urban centers and university towns and took control of several local authorities.

Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the results suggest the next national election, due by 2029, won’t produce a majority for any party.

“So then you’re in the world of, after the election, two or three big minority parties trying to work out how they would govern,” he said — something traditionally considered “very un-British.”

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking to the media after meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)

First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney with some of the newly elected SNP MSPs in Edinburgh, Saturday May 9, 2026, following the 2026 Holyrood elections. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking to the media after meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)

Observers from the Scottish National Party (SNP) watch as votes are counted for the 2026 Holyrood elections, at Dewars Centre in Perth, Scotland, Friday May 8, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks to supporters at Chelmsford City Racecourse, Friday May 8, 2026, in Essex, England, following the 2026 local election results. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to Labour Party members at Kingsdown Methodist Church Hall, in Ealing, west London, Friday May 8, 2026, a day after the local elections. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)