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A federal district judge on Wednesday said that the Trump administration’s effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil may be unconstitutional, but some conservative legal experts are not buying it.
Khalil is a pro-Palestine, anti-Israel activist who led protests at Columbia University. An immigration judge recently said he could be deported, but U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz for the District of New Jersey said that the order is likely to be dismissed as "unconstitutionally vague." Still, Khalil will remain in custody.
"The district court held what we already knew: Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio’s weaponization of immigration law to punish Mahmoud and others like him is likely unconstitutional," lawyers for Khalil said after the judge’s ruling.
However, various conservative legal experts disagree with the judge.
"A judge just handed Hamas a win on American soil. Mahmoud Khalil lied his way into our country, concealed ties to a foreign regime, and then led a pro-Hamas takeover at Columbia University. Now, a judicial activist wants to block his deportation? That’s not justice — it's national suicide. President Trump has both the constitutional authority and the moral obligation to remove threats like Khalil," Republican attorney Mehek Cooke told Fox News Digital in a statement.
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"The Supreme Court has made this power crystal clear. In Kleindienst v. Mandel (1972), the Court upheld the executive’s broad discretion in immigration matters. That authority was reaffirmed in Trump v. Hawaii (2018), where the Court ruled that the President has sweeping power to exclude noncitizens deemed detrimental to U.S. interests," she continued.
"By declaring the Immigration and Nationality Act 'unconstitutionally vague,' Judge Farbiarz isn't interpreting the law — he's rewriting it. That violates the separation of powers and dangerously ties the hands of our Commander in Chief. Citizenship is a privilege — not a sanctuary for liars and Hamas sympathizers. I am confident this will be overturned on appeal," Cooke added.
Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said it is a "ridiculous, meritless claim by a rogue federal judge," and said that even though Kahlil is a legal resident of the U.S., he can still face consequences.
"Aliens have no constitutional right to be in the U.S. Moreover, under federal immigration law, 8 U.S.C. 1227, aliens like Khalil, including permanent resident aliens, can be removed if the alien 'endorses or espouses terrorist activity' or support 'a terrorist organization.' Khalil’s blatant support for Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, makes him immediately deportable. This is another biased, partisan judge refusing to abide by federal immigration law and interfering in the president’s constitutional and statutory authority," he told Fox News Digital in a statement.
The White House also condemned the ruling, continuing its frequent clashes with federal judges over immigration policy.
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"Mahmoud Khalil was given the privilege of coming to America to study, but he squandered that opportunity by siding with Hamas terrorists and organizing protests that disrupted college classes and harassed Jewish-American students. Secretary of State Rubio has the right to revoke green cards or visas for any individuals who are adversarial to United States foreign policy and national security interests," Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
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