The Trump administration just notched another legal victory in its ongoing effort to crack down on radical foreign agitators hiding behind student visas.
Mahmoud Khalil, the Syrian-born Columbia University graduate student who led violent anti-Israel protests on campus, has officially lost his legal fight — at least for now. A federal judge in Louisiana ruled Friday that the administration had met its burden to deport Khalil, after months of legal wrangling and obstruction from activist-friendly judges.
Khalil was arrested by ICE on March 8 after spearheading threatening demonstrations tied to Hamas-aligned movements at Columbia. His green card was immediately revoked. But just two days later, liberal U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman — an Obama appointee — attempted to slam the brakes on Khalil’s removal, delaying the deportation process.
That stall tactic ended this week.
While Khalil’s legal team has until April 23 to file any last-minute relief applications, the writing is on the wall. The ruling comes after the Trump administration, backed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, presented damning evidence of Khalil’s involvement in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities,” which Rubio argued endangered Jewish students and contradicted U.S. foreign policy.
“His presence in the United States undermines U.S. policy to combat antisemitism,” Rubio wrote in a memo to the court, adding that Khalil’s actions created “a hostile environment for Jewish students” and aligned with Hamas — a designated terrorist organization.
It turns out there’s much more to Khalil than angry slogans and bullhorns.
Khalil previously worked for the British Embassy in Beirut, where he held a security clearance and supported diplomats through programs connected to UK intelligence operations. That’s right — a foreign national with ties to diplomatic missions and soft-power propaganda programs made his way into the U.S. in 2022 on a student visa and enrolled in Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), a known recruiting ground for U.S. intelligence agencies like the CIA.
Let that sink in.
After Khalil’s arrest, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed his Hamas ties and stated, “ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security.”
Good. Because if this is what’s been hiding in plain sight at Ivy League campuses, there are probably a dozen more Mahmoud Khalils waiting in line. Let this be the first of many removals.
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