Immigration panel issues final removal order for Mahmoud Khalil

An immigration panel this week issued a final removal order for Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist whom the Trump administration has sought to deport since last year.

Khalil helped to organize a student encampment at Columbia University, which saw a number of disturbances throughout the year as pro-Palestinian activists staged anti-Israel events to protest the war in Gaza.

The administration's attempt to deport him has led to a number of legal battles. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision does not enable his deportation, however, as he currently has a separate case in federal court, The Hill reported.

“I am not surprised by this decision from the biased and politically motivated Board of Immigration Appeals. I have committed no crime. I have broken no law. The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine — and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it," he said in a statement.

His case is one of several high-profile deportation matters that have attracted national attention and spanned almost the entirety of the Trump administration. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant, has had his case attract national attention as well. 

Abrego Garcia was sent to a Salvadoran prison despite a 2019 withholding order. He later returned to the U.S. and the government has sought to deport him to a third country.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.