A New Jersey federal judge ruled that anti-Israel ringleader, Mahoud Khalil, can sue the U.S. government as the Trump administration seeks to deport him.
The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey came after a Louisiana judge ruled that the U.S. government could deport the Ivy League graduate.
Khalil has separate court cases playing out in two states – the Louisiana case is focused on his deportation order and the New Jersey case is focused on his habeas petition challenging the legality of his detention.
Federal authorities attempted to dismiss Khalil’s case, arguing that provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act stripped the court of jurisdiction to review his constitutional claims at this stage.
Judge Claire C. Cecchi disagreed on Tuesday, ruling that Khalil’s lawsuit must be heard.
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Khalil, who was approved for deportation by a U.S. immigration judge, has argued that his free speech rights were being “eroded” by the Trump administration.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorneys have argued that Khalil’s free speech claims were a “red herring,” saying that the 30-year-old green card holder lied on his visa applications.
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Khalil, they said, willfully failed to disclose his employment with the Syrian office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he applied for permanent U.S. residency.
Federal officials alleged that Khalil was “inadmissible at the time of his adjustment” because of “fraud or willful misrepresentation of material fact” in his status application.
The agency also accused Khalil of failing to disclose his work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
He was accused of being a ringleader of pro-Palestinian protests at the university. The DHS has also alleged that he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” though Khalil has denied the allegations.
Following the ruling, Khalil’s immigration attorney, Sabrine Mohamah, called the decision “unjust as it is alarming.”
“This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and a dangerous precedent for anyone who believes in free speech and political expression,” she said.
“Mahmoud is currently imprisoned in Louisiana, a state that detains over 7,000 people daily and serves as the second-largest hub for immigration detention in the U.S. Louisiana’s nine detention centers, eight of which are privately operated, include the only ICE facility in the country directly connected to an airport, thus streamlining mass deportations across the state.”
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DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also weighed in on the ruling, saying that the Columbia University graduate “hates America.”
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country,” she said. “Good riddance.”
A judge in Louisiana has stated that he would be deported to either Syria or Algeria.
Khalil has Algerian citizenship through his mother, but was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.
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Khalil and Abdalla, a U.S. citizen, met in 2016 while volunteering in Lebanon. They married in 2023 and she was eight months pregnant at the time of his arrest.