- The Trump administration alleges Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist, lied on his green card application.
- Khalil, arrested on March 8, failed to disclose his membership with the UNRWA and his work at the British Embassy in Beirut, according to the Trump administration.
- Officials argue he is a national security threat due to ties with pro-Hamas groups. Khalil’s attorneys deny the charges, calling them retaliatory.
Full Story
The Trump administration is now alleging Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist arrested by immigration officials on March 8, lied on his green card application.
Federal immigration authorities arrested Khalil, who is married to a U.S. citizen, after he played a prominent role in the spring 2024 protests and encampments on Columbia’s campus.
Critics of Khalil’s arrest and possible deportation cited his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
Officials with the Trump administration say Khalil was a “pro-Hamas sympathizer” who posed a threat to U.S. national security.
In court documents filed Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security, the federal government now says Khalil “failed to disclose that he was a member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, also known as ‘UNRWA,’ from June through November of 2023.”
The Hamas terror attack against Israel occurred on Oct. 7, 2023, and it was revealed months later that UNRWA may have had nine employees involved in the attack. The United States stripped its funding from the organization after the revelation.
An UNRWA spokesperson told CNN that Khalil was never a paid employee but rather an unpaid intern and was never on staff.
The Trump administration also alleges Khalil neither disclosed his continuing employment in the Syria office at the British Embassy in Beirut beyond 2022 nor his membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD).
The federal government says Khalil omitted his affiliations with these organizations on his green card application and can, therefore, be deported by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Khalil is now charged as inadmissible at the time of his adjustment of status because he sought to procure an immigration benefit by fraud or willful misrepresentation of a material fact,” attorneys for the administration said in the filing, ABC News reports.
One of Khalil’s attorneys responded to the allegations, telling CNN: “We’re not at all surprised because it’s a recognition that the initial charges are unsustainable. So, they’re going with a theory that they must think is more legally defensible. But I just think this doesn’t cure the obvious taint of retaliation,” attorney Baher Azmy said.
Khalil is currently being held in an immigration facility in Louisiana as his lawyers fight to get him extradited to New Jersey or New York so he can be closer to his lawyers and wife, who is eight months pregnant.
