BIA issues final order for Khalil

The Board of Immigration Appeals issued a final removal order for Mahmoud Khalil on April 9, pushing his deportation case to the edge of federal court. (apnews.com) Khalil’s lawyers said the board denied his bid to throw out the case and entered the order the same day. Khalil is a 31-year-old lawful permanent resident, a former Columbia University graduate student, and a prominent Palestinian activist. (thehill.com) The Board of Immigration Appeals is the top administrative appeals body in the immigration court system, which sits inside the Justice Department rather than the federal judiciary. Its rulings are often the last stop before a deportation case moves into a federal appeals court. (aclu.org) Khalil is not facing immediate deportation despite the order. His legal team said a separate habeas corpus case is still pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and they plan to challenge the removal order in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. (nyclu.org) The case has drawn national attention because Khalil is a green-card holder, not a student on a temporary visa, and because the government is trying to remove him after his role in Columbia’s 2024 pro-Palestinian protest movement. His lawyers say the case punishes protected political speech. (time.com) The Trump administration has argued that Khalil is removable on foreign-policy grounds under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a rarely invoked provision dating to 1952. An immigration judge previously ruled that he could be deported to Syria or Algeria if no relief blocked removal. (abcnews.go.com) Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City on March 6, 2025, then moved through New Jersey and later to a detention center in Louisiana. He was later released, but the deportation case continued on a separate track. (ilrc.org) After the board’s decision, Khalil said he had “committed no crime” and called the ruling “biased and politically motivated.” The Justice Department did not immediately respond to questions from reporters after the order became public. (nbcnews.com) The next fight is no longer inside the immigration appeals system. It is over whether federal judges will let the government carry out the order while Khalil’s broader constitutional and detention challenges keep moving. (upi.com)