Read our editorial on politically-motivated deportations here.
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is expected to be rearrested and deported to Algeria, according to Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. The announcement came on January 22 amid the federal government’s ongoing deportation case against Khalil, who was released from detention in Jena, Louisiana in June 2025 after US District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered that he could remain free while immigration proceedings continue.
Khalil was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in early March 2025 and held for 104 days, during which he missed the birth of his first child and his graduation from Columbia University. At the time of his detention, Khalil was a lawful permanent resident with a green card and no criminal record. His case became the first high-profile example of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists and politically-motivated deportations.
The Trump administration has repeatedly attempted to deport Khalil under two rarely-used provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that authorize the Secretary of State to deem a non-citizen deportable if he “personally determines” the person’s actions to compromise US imperialist interests. These provisions grant sweeping discretionary power and bypass evidentiary standards.
Khalil’s legal team has maintained that Khalil cannot be legally detained or deported while his appeals remain pending. The government’s actions reflect an ongoing effort to continue to impose extreme punishment on Khalil for his role in the Palestine Solidarity Movement at Columbia University.
Newly unsealed documents further undermine the Trump administration’s case, confirming that officials privately assessed that Khalil’s actions constituted lawful speech and there was absent any assessment that Khalil ever engaged in activities outside of the First Amendment’s protection.
Officials utilized the same INA provisions to target other activists, including Rumeysa Ozturk and Mohsen Mahdawi. When previously pressed to justify Khalil’s deportation, Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered no evidence of wrongdoing beyond asserting his authority to remove non-citizens based on their beliefs.
Sustained mass resistance has thus far succeeded in blocking Khalil’s deportation, and the latest threat by DHS is set to intensify the struggle against state repression and deportations.
Photo retrieved from Instagram.
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