An immigration judge ordered Mahmoud Khalil deported. What happens now?

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An immigration judge ordered Mahmoud Khalil deported. What happens now?

2025-09-19 01:55 Last Updated At：02:11

NEW YORK (AP) — Three months after his release from an immigration jail, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is facing the growing threat of deportation for his role in campus protests against Israel.

In court documents made public Wednesday, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Khalil should be deported for failing to disclose information on his green card application.

The decision marked a setback for Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident and recent Columbia University graduate student who became the first person targeted by President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. But while the ruling puts him one step closer to a final order of removal, it is far from the last word in the case.

For now, Khalil remains protected from detention and deportation under a separate judicial order. His legal team has said they intend to appeal the immigration judge’s ruling, which Khalil has characterized as “further evidence of retaliation” from a “kangaroo court.”

Here’s a look at where things stand in the ongoing legal battle:

The Sept. 12 ruling by the immigration judge, Jamee Comans, builds on her previous order issued in April, which found Khalil could be forced out of the country as a national security risk.

Khalil’s attorneys had challenged that decision, citing his lack of criminal history and close ties to the United States. His wife is a U.S. citizen, as is his 5-month-old son, who was born while Khalil was in federal custody.

Khalil was a prominent figure in protests at Columbia University against the war in Gaza, which spread to campuses nationwide. He was arrested inside his campus apartment building this past March and accused by the Trump administration of supporting “pro-Hamas” activity, referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Khalil has repeatedly denied the charge and the federal government has not provided evidence for it.

Khalil has argued he is being targeted for exercising his free speech, pointing to a memo by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that justified his arrest on the grounds that his pro-Palestinian beliefs could undermine U.S. foreign policy interests.

In her latest decision, Comans said she lacked the authority “to question foreign policy determinations” and that Khalil’s “limited family ties” to the country did not amount to a compelling reason to waive her prior ruling.

Comans then sided with the government on a separate claim, finding that Khalil had “willfully misrepresented” facts about his background on his green card application, including his role in a United Nations agency that provides services to Palestinian refugees.

Khalil has maintained that any omissions on the application were unintentional.

Khalil’s attorneys said Wednesday that they intend to appeal the decision. But they also expressed concern about their odds of success in the reliably conservative federal appeals court with jurisdiction over the case.

If he were to lose his appeal, Khalil would be stripped of his permanent residency status, further restricting his ability to work and travel, according to his attorneys. But the government would still be prohibited from removing him under a June 11 order from a federal judge in New Jersey, Michael Farbiarz.

That order will remain in place while his civil rights case plays out in New Jersey. It may soon be “the only meaningful impediment” to Khalil’s deportation, according to a letter that his attorneys sent Wednesday to Farbiarz.

Oral arguments in that case could begin as soon as next month.

Judge Comans has said Khalil would be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or “in the alternative” Syria, where he was born in a refugee camp to a Palestinian family.

Attorneys for Khalil have said the publicity surrounding his case would leave him in mortal danger if he were forced to return to either country.

Khalil, 30, fled Syria for Lebanon in 2013 after joining protests against then-President Bashar al-Assad. His family has roots in Tiberias but were displaced during the mass expulsion of Palestinians from what is now Israel, according to court documents.

Khalil has said he will continue advocating for Palestinians as his legal battle plays out. He is also currently suing the Trump administration for $20 million in damages, alleging that he was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite.

Emailed inquiries to the State Department, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security were not returned.

New Jersey Democrats pick Navy veteran Rebecca Bennett to face absent GOP congressman

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, won the Democratic primary in a battleground New Jersey congressional district to take on Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr., who has been absent with an unspecified illness for months.

Bennett’s victory over three other Democrats on Tuesday sets up the state’s premier contest in November, when the party hopes it can flip the onetime Republican stronghold that has proven competitive in recent years. The district includes bedroom communities and farm towns as well as President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club.

Kean’s absence — his last vote was in early March — has supercharged interest in the seat, which Democrats view as key to winning control of the narrowly divided U.S. House. Voters in the 7th District have ousted two incumbents during midterm elections over the past decade.

Addressing supporters in Bridgewater, Bennett called Kean a “coward.”

“You are failing us, and you do not deserve to represent us in Washington,” she said.

In her speech, Bennett referred to “Tom Kean Jr., wherever you are,” drawing applause from supporters. She criticized Kean over his vote for Trump’s tax legislation and his failure to stand up to the president's threat to cut funding for a rail tunnel between New Jersey and New York.

Trump's package of spending and tax cuts expanded the state and local tax deduction. New Jersey has among the highest property taxes in the nation.

The Democrats are leaning into the rising costs of groceries and gasoline caused by the Iran war and Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Bennett built her campaign around her experience as a Navy helicopter pilot as well as around affordability, noting that she drives a no-frills sedan and emphasizing her relatability as a working mom.

Araz Shahinian, a 49-year-old systems developer, said he voted for Bennett, noting he’s worried about the state of politics and rising prices. “She had the more centrist views,” he said.

Bennett's victory comes as Kean, who received Trump’s endorsement, remains out of public view. He did not make any appearances ahead of the primary, and he did not face a challenge for the Republican nomination.

Kean issued a statement on Tuesday saying “I will continue putting our constituents first” and “I am optimistic about the road ahead.”

“Right now I am focused on my recovery and under the advice of healthcare professionals. I will transition from virtual work to in person work within a matter of weeks,” Kean said, without explaining his condition.

Nina Ovryn, a Democratic voter and Bennett supporter who attended her victory party, said she was disappointed by Kean's absence.

“It shines a spotlight on the fact that he’s basically absent in the district and now he’s absent in Congress,” she said.

The district was redrawn after the most recent census to become more favorable to Republicans, but it's gone back and forth in recent years. Kean ousted incumbent Democrat Tom Malinowski in 2022, who defeated Republican Rep. Leonard Lance in 2018.

Justin Murphy, an attorney from southern New Jersey, won the state’s Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat Tuesday, setting up a fall contest with incumbent Democratic Sen. Cory Booker.

Murphy faces the tall task of becoming the first New Jersey Republican to win a race for Senate in more than five decades — and in a year when control of the chamber is being hotly contested.

Booker was uncontested in Tuesday's Democratic primary and is running for a full third term.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew is seeking a fifth term in southern New Jersey’s 2nd District. He was originally elected as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party during Trump's first term. Zack Mullock, the mayor of Cape May, New Jersey, won the district's Democratic primary Tuesday.

Dr. Adam Hamawy, a surgeon and Army veteran, won a crowded primary in the heavily Democratic 12th District in central New Jersey, where Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman is retiring. He'll face attorney Gregg Mele, who was unchallenged in the GOP primary.

Hamawy shot to prominence with endorsements from independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressives. Some of his opponents recently began criticizing him over his connection to Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric convicted in 1995 of conspiring to blow up the United Nations and other New York-area landmarks.

Hamawy was a defense witness in the sheikh's trial but wasn’t accused of wrongdoing. He has condemned violence and distanced himself from the sheikh during the campaign. Abdel-Rahman died in federal prison in 2017.

The Republican primary in New Jersey’s 9th Congressional District was too early to call. Rosie Pino led Tiffany Burress by 366 votes out of 12,702 votes counted. It was unclear how many votes were left to count in Passaic County, where Burress led Pino by 25 percentage points.

The winner will take on first-term Democratic Rep. Nellie Pou. Her margin of victory in 2024 was narrower than her long-serving predecessor, Rep. Bill Pascrell, and coincided with Trump winning a county in the district.

This story was first published on June 2, 2026. It was updated on June 3, 2026 to correct that in the Republican primary for the 9th District, Tiffany Burress led Rosie Pino in Passaic County by 25 percentage points, not 45 points, and to correct the spelling of a Bennett supporter’s name to Nina Ovryn, not Orvyn.

Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.