An immigration judge from the United States ruled that the case of deportation against Mahmoud Khalil can process, a month after the student graduated from the University of Columbia was arrested for his participation in pro-Palestinian protests.
Judge Jamee Comans made the determination on Friday at the end of almost two hours in the American state of Louisiana, saying that the Government had “established for clear and convincing evidence that is removable.”
Khalil, a permanent resident of the United States, can appeal the decision.
“Mahmoud was subject to a farce of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing and a weapon of the immigration law to suppress the dissent,” said one of his lawyers, Marc van der Hout, in a statement after the hearing.
“This is not over, and our fight continues,” he added.
Khalil’s case has generated great scrutiny as rights defenders accuse the administration of President Donald Trump to take energetic measures against freedom of expression and pro-Palestinian activism under the appearance of combating anti-Semitism.
The Administration is trying to deport Khalil under a rarely used provision of an immigration law that gives the Secretary of State the power to eliminate any cytization whose presence in the United States is considered to have “consequences of the advalent policy.”
The government has not accused Khalil of a crime.
In a two -page letter presented to the Court and Khalil’s lawyers, the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, wrote that the 30 -year -old should be eliminated by his role in “anti -Semitic protests and disruptive activities, which encourages a geous environment.”
Rubio’s letter did not accuse Khalil of violating any law, but said that the department can revoke the legal status of an immigrant, including his beliefs, associations or statements are “otherwise legal.”
Khalil’s supporters say they dedicated themselves to peaceful protests against the ties of Columbia University with the Israeli army as part of the wave of manifestations of the campus that swept the country last year in the middle of the Gaza de Gaza de Israel war.
Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and another of Khalil’s lawyers, told journalists on Thursday that Rubio’s letter “is a kind of Soviet style diktat that is equal empty and chilling.”
When informing from outside the court in Jena, Louisiana on Friday, Shihab Rattansi of Al Jazeera said that Khalil went to the court during the hearing.
“He said that nothing is more important than due process and fundamental equity [and] Neinder of these principles was present ”in his case, Rattansi reported.
Khalil has been held by the Government since March 8, when he was arrested late at night by immigration application agents against his pregnant wife, who is an American citizen.
He was then transferred to two different facilities without notifying his family or lawyers.
In a statement, read the duration, a press conference outside the Court in Louisiana on Friday afternoon, Khalil’s support team said that the judge’s ruling was “as unfair as alarming.”
“Although the government does not show that Mahmoud violated any law, the court has decided that permanent legal residents can be revoked by pro-palestinian defense,” the team said.
“This is a shameless violation of the first amendment [of the US Constitution] and a dangerous precedent for anyone who creates in freedom of expression and political expression. “
In another statement read by activists, Noor Abdalla, Khalil’s wife, said the Court’s decision was “a devastating blow.”
“No person should be considered removable of their home for speaking against the murder of Palestinian families, doctors and journalists,” said Abdalla, referring to the Israel Gaza War.
Comans, Louisiana’s immigration judge, gave Khalil’s legal team until April 23 to look for a wine. But the judge’s decision is not the last saying about whether Khalil will be deported.
In a separate case in the Federal Court of New Jersey, the US district judge Michael Farbiar has blocked deportation while considering Khalil’s claim that his judgment was made in violation of the first amendments of the United States Constitution for freedom of expression.
Around the last weeks, the United States immigration authorities have also taken energetic measures against several international students who have tasks that are separated in pro-palestinian protests or have spoken in defense of the Palestinians in Gaza.