DOJ alleges key omissions on Mahmoud Khalil's green card application
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Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil talks to reporters last June. Photo: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
The Trump administration lodged new accusations over the weekend against detained Columbia University alumnus Mahmoud Khalil in an effort to justify its deportation case against him.
The big picture: The arrest of Khalil, a leader in Columbia's pro-Palestinian protests and a U.S. green card holder from Syria, set the stage for a historic test of immigrants' speech rights under the Trump administration.
Driving the news: The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged in a filing Sunday that Khalil, who is a legal resident in the U.S., did not disclose in his permanent residency application that he was a member of a United Nations agency that helped Palestinian refugees and that he worked for the British Embassy in Lebanon after 2022.
- "Khalil's First Amendment allegations are a red herring," the DOJ said in the filing, which argued that the decision to "conceal group memberships" created an "independent basis" to deport him.
The other side: Khalil's attorney, Marc Van Der Hout, called the additional allegations "completely meritless."
- He told Axios, "They show that the government has no case whatsoever on this bogus charge that his presence in the U.S. would have adverse foreign policy consequences."
- He emphasized the case "is purely about First Amendment protected activity and speech, and U.S. citizens and permanent residents alike are free to say what they wish about what is going on in the world."
Catch up quick: Khalil helped lead last year's protests over the war in Gaza. The protests disrupted campus activities and led to allegations of antisemitic harassment of some Jewish students.
- Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents earlier this month as part of Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown.
- The Department of Homeland Security said it had evidence he was actively supporting Hamas, but not materially helping the terror group, a White House official said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio then determined that Khalil acted against U.S. foreign policy positions.
- Khalil is currently being held in Louisiana. His lawyers are asking a federal judge to order U.S. immigration authorities to immediately release him and find his detention in violation of the First Amendment.
More from Axios:
- Mahmoud Khalil's case should be heard in New Jersey, judge says
- Trump's historic test of immigrants' speech rights
- Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil seek immediate release on free speech grounds
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Kahlil's lawyer Marc Van Der Hout.
