Mahmoud Khalil failed to disclose connections to UNRWA in visa application: DOJ

The Trump administration has said that Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of a anti-Israel protest at Columbia University, withheld information about his involvement with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) when he applied for his visa.

The new accusations against Khalil come after the Columbia student had his visa revoked by the Trump administration, was detained by the Department of Homeland Security, and is now facing deportation.

The DOJ said that Khalil fraudulently applied for his student visa because he did not disclose his “membership in certain organizations,” such as the UNRWA, per the New York Post.

UNRWA has been stripped of tens of millions in funding for aid from the United States after reporting showed that staffers at the agency were involved in the October 7 attacks on Israel and have links to terrorism.

Between June and November 2023, Khalil was reportedly a political affairs officer for the UNRWA. The DOJ has also alleged that Khalil did not disclose that he worked in the Syria office of the British Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. He is also a member of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which the DOJ also said was not revealed in his application.

Since Khalil has been detained, there has been an outcry from the left surrounding free speech protections and his lawyers have argued he was illegally targeted for deportation over his activist activities at Columbia University.

Marc Van Der Hout, an immigration lawyer for Khalil, said the accusations “show that the government has no case whatsoever on this bogus charge that his presence in the US would have adverse foreign policy consequences. This case is purely about First Amendment protected activity and speech, and US citizens and permanent residents alike are free to say what they wish about what is going on in the world.”

The DOJ wrote in a filing on Sunday that the free speech issue is a “red herring.” Free speech rights do not “overcome the executive’s prerogative and control over immigration,” the filing added.

Khalil was charged under a law that allows the Secretary of State to deport individuals who are considered to be a threat to US foreign policy. That charge, along with the new accusations, now stand against him.

Khalil is being held in an immigration detention facility in Louisiana.