An immigration judge in Jena, Louisiana, ruled on Friday that the Trump administration could continue its effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old Columbia University graduate and legal U.S. resident who was a negotiator and spokesperson for pro-Palestinian campus groups, according to multiple reports.
Khalil was taken and detained at his student housing facility March 8 and has been held in Louisiana for weeks. Though the judge found him eligible for removal, his lawyer told reporters Thursday that doesn’t mean Khalil’s case in immigration court is over.
“The case will move on to what’s called the relief stage of removal proceedings, where Mahmoud and our legal team will be able to litigate his right to remain in the United States, even though the immigration judge has found him deportable,” one of Khalil’s lawyers, Johnny Sinodis, told reporters. “This process plays out in immigration court, and it will most certainly require several more hearings before a final decision can be made in the immigration case.”