The Justice Department accused Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist at Columbia University who was detained by the Trump administration and had his visa revoked, of hiding his association with a controversial United Nations agency. 

Khalil covered up his employment by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East when he applied for his green card, the government alleged in a court brief filed in New Jersey on Sunday. He also withheld information from his visa application revealing he belonged to Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a pro-Palestinian student group, and worked for the Syria office in the British embassy in Beirut, the brief claimed.

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Khalil “sought to procure an immigration benefit by fraud of willful misrepresentation of a material fact,” the government wrote. “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.”

The Biden administration cut funding to UNRWA in 2024 after Israel accused some of the agency’s employees of participating in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that murdered over 1,200. Last August, a U.N. investigation found nine UNRWA employees “may” have participated in the terrorist attack. In January, three Israelis taken hostage by Hamas during the attack said they were held captive in a UNRWA camp in Gaza. 

Khalil was a political officer of UNRWA in 2023, according to the government’s lawsuit. 

A recent graduate of Columbia University, Khalil was born in Syria before entering the U.S. on a green card and being granted permanent legal residency. The Trump administration detained Khalil for deportation earlier this month, accusing him of “siding with [Hamas] terrorists” and “[leading] activities aligned to Hamas.” 

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The administration’s move came after Khalil was accused of being involved in a Columbia University pro-Palestinian demonstration where pamphlets written by Hamas state media were distributed, as well as an incident where masked protesters disrupted a classroom to hand out anti-Zionist material. Two students were expelled over that matter. 

However, the case to remove him from the country is playing out in the legal system after a federal judge blocked the government from immediately deporting Khalil. The pro-Palestinian activist is appealing his deportation in court, arguing his conduct was protected as free speech and that he was not granted due process.