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Federal judge blocks deportation of Columbia graduate and Palestinian activist

Farbiarz’s ruling prevents authorities from deporting or detaining Khalil at this time, finding that Rubio’s determination to remove him on foreign policy grounds lacked specificity and raised constitutional concerns.

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The decision challenges a provision in immigration law which allows the Secretary of State to order deportation based solely on foreign policy considerations, a power which Farbiarz claimed may be too broad in application. File Image.

United States District Judge Michael Farbiarz blocked the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist currently being held in Louisiana.

 

The judge’s ruling prevents authorities from deporting or detaining Khalil at this time, finding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s determination to remove him on foreign policy grounds lacked specificity and raised constitutional concerns.

 

 

The decision challenges a provision in immigration law which allows the Secretary of State to order deportation based solely on foreign policy considerations, a power which Farbiarz claimed may be too broad in application.

 

Farbiarz wrote in his opinion that the court “finds as a matter of fact” that Khalil’s “career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled.”

 

While the government can file an appeal, Khalil’s legal team views the ruling as a significant victory. Federal authorities had also cited Khalil’s alleged failure to complete permanent residency forms accurately as grounds for removal, but the judge dismissed this reasoning.

 

 

Farbiarz asserted that “lawful permanent residents are virtually never detained pending removal for the sort of alleged omissions in a lawful-permanent-resident application” that Khalil made.

 

The legal battle continues nonetheless, with a separate immigration judge in Louisiana siding with the government, potentially allowing deportation to proceed despite the federal ruling. Khalil’s attorneys are fighting the decision.

 

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