“The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine — and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it.”
A final order of removal has been issued for Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and Gaza camp organizer whom the Trump administration has been fighting to have removed from the country for over a year.
Per Fox News, the DOJ’s Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denied Khalil’s bid to dismiss his case. Khalil said in a statement, "I am not surprised by this decision from the biased and politically motivated Board of Immigration Appeals. I have committed no crime. I have broken no law. The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine — and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it."
"My family is here. My life is here. I reject any attempt to intimidate me out of my home based on lies and ideological attacks. This is not justice. This is just another attempt to retaliate against me. I will continue fighting for my rights in court, and I will not be deterred — for me, my family, and all immigrants in this country who want to speak out against injustice," he added.
Khalil's legal team claimed that the order was "baseless and politically motivated," and argued that the Trump administration is retaliating against his free speech rights.
“In all my decades as an immigration lawyer, I have never seen such a baseless and politically motivated decision. The BIA’s decision has absolutely no support in the record, violates a federal court order, and we’ll be fighting it until the end,” said Khalil’s lead immigration attorney, Marc Van Der Hout. “Federal courts have already agreed that Mahmoud was targeted for his speech, and there is likely much more evidence of the government’s unlawful retaliation that has yet to come to light. This is a clear continuation of the administration’s retaliation against Mahmoud for exercising his First Amendment rights.”
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