A decades-long legal permanent resident of the United States and prominent Palestinian rights activist has moved one step closer to forced removal from the country, after the federal Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a final deportation order in his case Thursday. The outcome has reignited fierce debate over the erosion of free speech protections and the politicization of U.S. immigration institutions under the second Trump administration.
Unlike the independent federal judiciary that oversees most U.S. legal proceedings, the BIA operates as an entity under the executive branch, falling directly within the oversight of the Department of Justice alongside the nation’s entire immigration court system. This structural dependency has long drawn criticism from civil liberties advocates, who argue it leaves immigration rulings vulnerable to political pressure from the sitting White House.
Khalil’s legal team, which includes counsel from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), has unequivocally framed the BIA’s final order as unlawful retaliation for the activist’s peaceful, public advocacy for Palestinian human rights. In response to Thursday’s ruling, attorneys confirmed they will pursue further appeal to challenge the decision.
A separate federal civil case remains ongoing, in which Khalil alleges U.S. authorities violated his constitutional rights by targeting his activism. A critical court order from this ongoing litigation currently blocks Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from arresting Khalil or carrying out his deportation until the civil case reaches a conclusion.
“The only thing standing between the government and its unconstitutional goals is the intervention of a federal district court last summer,” explained Brett Max Kaufman, an ACLU attorney working on Khalil’s defense. “Without the protection of a habeas court, the government could target anyone for this kind of retaliation. That makes today’s ruling a stark reminder of what is at stake in Mahmoud’s case. We will continue to use every available legal avenue to protect our client and defend First Amendment protections against this cruel, unrelenting campaign.”
Habeas corpus, the legal principle at the center of the case, traces its origins to 13th-century England, where it was established to prevent the monarchy from detaining people arbitrarily without due process. Today, the protection applies to all people present on U.S. territory, regardless of whether they hold U.S. citizenship.
Now 31, Khalil holds U.S. legal permanent resident status, a designation granted to Green Card holders that carries most of the same rights and obligations as citizenship short of voting. Back in June 2024, a federal court ordered Khalil’s release from ICE detention, with Judge Michael Farbiarz noting there was credible evidence that immigration charges had been brought specifically to punish Khalil for his speech — a finding that would violate constitutional protections.
But the case has shifted steadily against the activist this year. In January 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Judge Farbiarz lacked legal jurisdiction to intervene in the deportation proceedings. That ruling cleared the way for potential re-arrest of Khalil, handing a major victory to the Trump administration in a high-profile case that tests the boundaries of free speech for non-citizen activists, including international students and legal permanent residents.
Khalil has rejected the BIA’s ruling and said the outcome came as no surprise. “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,” Khalil said in a public statement. “My family is here. My life is here. I reject any attempt to intimidate me out of my home based on lies and ideological attacks. This is not justice. This is just another attempt to retaliate against me.”
Khalil rose to prominence as a lead negotiator for pro-Palestinian student demonstrators during the 2024 Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University, where he was a graduate student. The campus protest was organized to oppose Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which the Gaza health ministry reports has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians as of 2025.
The Trump administration, which has repeatedly framed pro-Palestinian campus activism as equivalent to antisemitism, launched a targeted crackdown on student organizers earlier this year. ICE plainclothes agents arrested Khalil outside his Columbia University campus apartment in March 2025. Agents initially claimed they had revoked Khalil’s student visa, but when Khalil’s wife presented agents with his Green Card proving permanent resident status, agents stated that status had also been revoked.
Without notifying Khalil’s legal team or his family, authorities transferred Khalil to an immigration detention center in central Louisiana, even though his habeas case was pending in New York and he had previously been held in detention in nearby New Jersey. Khalil was one of the first high-profile activists affiliated with an elite U.S. university to be detained as part of the administration’s crackdown.
He ultimately spent 104 days in ICE custody, forcing him to miss two milestone life events: the birth of his first child and his own graduation ceremony from Columbia University.