Mahmoud Khalil lost the deportation case.

Palestinian activist and green card holder Mahmoud Khalil has lost his latest bid in a deportation case, bringing him one step closer to being deported from the country. The Board of Immigration Appeals issued a final order of removal for Khalil after the board ruled that his petition would not be considered. The board’s decisions were not made public but his lawyers shared the news and Khalil also responded that he was not surprised at all. Khalil said, “I am not surprised by this decision by the partisan and politically motivated Board of Immigration Appeals. I have committed no crime. I have broken no laws. The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against genocide in Palestine – and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it.”

Will Mahmoud Khalil be deported now?

His lawyers said he cannot be legally detained or deported because he is pursuing a separate case in the federal court system. Khalil’s lead immigration attorney, Mark Van Der Hout, said, “In all my decades as an immigration lawyer, I have never seen such a baseless and politically motivated decision. The BIA’s decision has no support in the record, it violates a federal court order and we will fight it to the end.” “Federal courts have already agreed that Mahmoud was targeted for his speech, and there is likely further evidence of unlawful government retaliation that has yet to be uncovered. This is a clear continuation of the Administration’s retaliation against Mahmoud for exercising his First Amendment rights.

Who is Mahmood Khalil??

Khalil, 31, a green card holder, was arrested inside a residential building at Columbia University in Manhattan on March 8, 2025. When he returned home, agents contacted him and took him into custody when he confirmed he was Mahmoud Khalil. This arrest became a major issue in the second administration of Donald Trump. The government claimed he was affiliated with Hamas because he led pro-Palestinian protests in Colombia. Khalil spent 104 days in immigration jail and missed the birth of his first child. He was ordered released by a federal judge in New Jersey and was not charged. Khalil was born in Syria and holds Algerian citizenship through a distant relative.