Trump Administration Lodges New Accusations In opposition to Mahmoud Khalil

When Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead pro-Palestinian demonstrations whereas a Columbia College pupil, was detained this month, the Trump administration argued he needs to be deported to assist forestall the unfold of antisemitism, invoking a not often used legislation.

Legal professionals for Mr. Khalil, a authorized everlasting resident who’s being detained in Louisiana, shortly responded that the administration was retaliating in opposition to their shopper for his constitutionally protected speech criticizing Israel and selling Palestinian rights.

Final week, the federal government quietly added new accusations to its case in opposition to Mr. Khalil, saying that he had willfully didn’t disclose his membership in a number of organizations, together with a United Nations company that helps Palestinian refugees, when he utilized to develop into a everlasting U.S. resident final March. It mentioned he additionally didn’t disclose work he did for the British authorities after 2022.

The Trump administration seems to be utilizing the brand new allegations partially to sidestep the First Modification points raised by Mr. Khalil’s case. On Sunday, in a submitting opposing his launch, Justice Division legal professionals argued that the brand new allegations diminished the significance of issues about Mr. Khalil’s proper to free speech.

“Khalil’s First Modification allegations are a crimson herring,” they wrote. Given the brand new allegations, they added, there was an “impartial foundation” for his deportation.

“The brand new deportation grounds are obviously weak and pretextual,” mentioned one in all Mr. Khalil’s legal professionals, Ramzi Kassem, a co-director of CLEAR, a authorized clinic on the Metropolis College of New York. “That the federal government scrambled so as to add them on the eleventh hour solely highlights how its motivation from the beginning was to retaliate in opposition to Mr. Khalil for his protected speech in help of Palestinian rights and lives.”