A Louisiana immigration judge on Friday declared Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident of the United States (with a permanent green card), deportable.

Judge Jamie Comans' decision comes after the federal government filed a memorandum Wednesday from Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleging that Khalil could be deported because of his "beliefs, statements, or associations" that could harm U.S. foreign policy interests.

An immigration court's "deportability determination" means that a judge has determined that a person is subject to removal from the United States due to an immigration law violation or lack of legal immigration status. Khalil's attorneys are expected to appeal the ruling.

The judge's decision (in this case) does not mean that Khalil will face deportation any time soon, as he has an ongoing case in New Jersey. A federal judge in New Jersey ordered Khalil's lawyers and the U.S. Department of Justice to hold a conference call immediately after his immigration hearing in Louisiana. Khalil's legal team argued that the Louisiana judge's decision violates the graduate's constitutional rights and sets a harmful precedent.

Immigration judges, like Judge Jamie Cummins, are not Article III judges. Rather, they are attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice, appointed for that purpose. They merely rule that the federal government has the authority to determine a person is deportable based on—as in this case—U.S. foreign policy grounds, but the ruling does not constitute enforcement.

"Although the government failed to prove that Mahmoud violated any law, the court has determined that lawful permanent residents can have their residency revoked for their advocacy for Palestine," Khalil's legal team said in a press conference following the hearing. "This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and sets a dangerous precedent for anyone who believes in freedom of speech and political expression."

Khalil was arrested on March 8 by federal agents outside his apartment on the Columbia University campus, following a deportation order issued by the Trump administration. Khalil, who is married to an American citizen, is a prominent Palestinian activist and played a pivotal role in protests against Israel's war of genocide in Gaza on the prestigious Columbia University campus.

At the end of the hearing, Khalil informed the court that he was not afforded "due process rights and basic fairness," according to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union. "None of these principles were present today or in this entire process," Khalil said. "This is precisely why the Trump administration sent me to this court, a thousand miles from my family."

Khalil's wife, Nour Abdullah, said her husband was imprisoned for his support of Palestine.

"My husband is a political prisoner who is being denied his rights because he believes Palestinians deserve equal dignity and freedom," she said in a statement read during a briefing on Friday. "Nothing the government can say about my husband can hide this truth."

Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamie Comans ordered the federal government to turn over evidence supporting its order to deport Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, from the United States by Wednesday evening, or she will move to end the case, according to Khalil's lawyer.

In response to the request, the federal government filed Rubio's memorandum on Wednesday, which did not include any allegations of criminal activity. Khalil's lawyers challenged the charges against him in federal and immigration court, arguing that he was targeted for his pro-Palestinian activism in violation of his constitutional right to free speech.

“Today we saw our worst fears come to fruition: Mahmoud was subjected to a travesty of due process, a blatant violation of his right to a fair trial, and the exploitation of immigration law to suppress dissent,” Khalil’s immigration lawyer, Mark van der Hout, said in a statement Friday.

Gloria J. Brown Marshall, a professor of constitutional law at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told CNN in an interview on Friday that Friday's ruling could have a chilling effect on free speech on colleges and universities in the United States.

“It is chilling for all expression rights when the federal government’s memo does not outline any criminal charges against Mahmoud but seems to say that one person can influence US foreign policy through student protests,” she said.

As a graduate student at Columbia University, Khalil served as a key negotiator for student protesters in talks with the Ivy League university administration regarding a controversial campus encampment last spring to protest Israel's war on Gaza.

Khalil's case has been the subject of controversy since his arrest on March 8, 2025, outside his college dorm, where he lived with his wife, a US citizen who was nine months pregnant. He was transferred to a detention center in Louisiana, where his immigration proceedings will be processed. A separate federal lawsuit is currently underway in New Jersey, in which Khalil is suing the federal government over his arrest.

In the New Jersey case, Khalil's team will continue to seek bail and a preliminary injunction to release him from custody pending the conclusion of his immigration case, according to the ACLU press release. The administration ordered Khalil's deportation "based on information provided by DHS/ICE/HSI regarding [the freedman's] and Khalil's participation and roles in anti-Semitic protests and activities, creating a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States," Rubio stated in the memo filed Wednesday.

The memo continues that Khalil's actions and continued presence in the United States "undermine U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism globally and in the United States, as well as efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States."

Khalil's lawyers previously stated that they would challenge the evidence at the hearing and request an opportunity for Rubio to testify.

Van der Hout said the government presented evidence proving Khalil's involvement in protest negotiations at Columbia University, but did not provide evidence to support the foreign policy allegation.

"Rubio's letter is the only evidence against the main charge in this case. There is no other evidence," Van Der Hout said Thursday.

Van der Hoot also challenged the government's characterization of anti-Semitism, saying, "What is anti-Semitism? It's criticizing Israel and the United States for the massacres being committed in Gaza, in Palestine. That's the essence of this issue."

While ICE insists its detention of individuals is "non-punitive," some immigration attorneys say the agency strategically isolates unwanted immigrants from their attorneys, families, and support systems.

In a statement released after Friday's hearing, Abdullah said she would continue to advocate for her husband's return home, even though he may miss the birth of their first child in less than a month.

Khalil is among the first students or faculty members at American universities—whether residing in the United States as permanent residents or on work or student visas—to be detained by federal agents as part of the administration's immigration crackdown. More than 400 students, faculty members, and researchers have had their visas revoked this year. The Trump administration, which has accused Khalil of supporting Hamas, said it is acting under a provision of U.S. immigration law that grants broad authority to revoke a person's immigration status if the Secretary of State determines that "their activities in the United States could have serious foreign policy consequences."

In cases where the basis for this determination is the foreign person's past, present, or anticipated beliefs, statements, or associations that are lawful, the Secretary of State must personally determine that the foreign person's presence or activities would harm a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest, according to Rubio's newly released memo.

Adam Cox, a New York University law professor, told CNN that the provision the Trump administration is trying to use against Khalil—and other activists—is too vague. Cox recently joined a group of 150 immigration lawyers and legal scholars in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in Khalil's federal case.

The summary stated that in the years following its enactment in 1990, this provision was used in only 15 out of 11.7 million deportation cases. Of these 15 cases, only five involved detention for the duration of the case, while only four resulted in deportation, according to experts.

With this provision being used against other students included in Trump's immigration crackdown, Cox says the decision in Khalil's case on Friday could be significant for future cases.