Trump administration accuses pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil of hiding info on his green card application

The Trump administration – after accusing Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil of being a Hamas sympathizer without providing evidence – now says Khalil’s deportation is justified because he did not reveal connections to two organizations in his application to become a permanent US resident, an argument his attorneys call weak.

The Trump administration – after accusing Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil of being a Hamas sympathizer without providing evidence – now says Khalil’s deportation is justified because he did not reveal connections to two organizations in his application to become a permanent US resident, an argument his attorneys call weak. Khalil failed to state on his green card application he had previously worked for the Syria office of the British Embassy in Beirut and was a member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, the government says, the latter a focus of intense criticism from American and Israeli politicians who accuse it of antisemitism. Khalil “sought to procure an immigration benefit by fraud of willful misrepresentation of a material fact,” the US government wrote in the brief filed Sunday. “Regardless of his allegations concerning political speech, Khalil withheld membership in certain organizations … It is black-letter law that misrepresentations in this context are not protected speech.” Khalil, a negotiator for pro-Palestinian student protesters in talks with Columbia’s administration over last spring’s contentious campus encampment against the Israel-Hamas war, was arrested March 8 and has been detained since then by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. US District Judge Jesse Furman, an Obama appointee, has blocked the government indefinitely from deporting Khalil and transferred the case. The Trump administration initially said Khalil was a threat to US security, citing a law that allows noncitizens to be deported if their presence has “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Asked how Khalil had had engaged in terrorist activity, Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar told NPR on March 13: “I think it’s clear, or we wouldn’t be talking about it,” and provided no more details. Other foreign academics also have been identified for deportation this month as the administration squeezes colleges over pro-Palestinian demonstrations amid a broader immigration crackdown.