Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued the feds can deport Columbia protest leader Mahmoud Khalil solely over what they describe as his “antisemitic” beliefs, ahead of a Friday hearing in his immigration case.
Rubio’s memo — which was less than two pages long — was submitted to a Louisiana immigration judge who Tuesday ordered the federal government to submit all their evidence to bolster their bid to kick the legal U.S. resident, born in Syria, out of the country.
Rubio’s memo said Khalil’s presence in the country undermines “U.S. policy to combat antisemitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.”
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security invoked an obscure law that allows the Secretary of State to boot any noncitizens who could pose a threat to US foreign policy.
But Khalil’s lawyers during a video press conference Thursday blasted the government’s evidence as being “woefully” lacking in enough proof to back its attempt to deport him.
Khalil lawyer Marc Van Der Hout said Rubio’s “determination has absolutely nothing to do with foreign policy.”
Van Der Hout claimed the feds are merely trying to silence Khalil for organizing protests at the Ivy League school opposing the Israel-Hamas war.
Khalil’s team will be in a Jena, Louisiana immigration court with him tomorrow as they attempt to petition Judge Jamee Comans that his deportation would be a violation of Khalil’s First Amendment right to free speech.
Comans has said she will rule Friday, which Van Der Hout claimed is a “rush to judgment” and deprives his client of his right to due process.
Khalil filed suit last month after he was arrested inside his Manhattan apartment building by ICE agents and moved to a detention facility in Louisiana while his wife — an American citizen — is due to give birth to their child within a month.
With Post wires