Federal judge says attempted deportation of anti-Israel ringleader Mahmoud Khalil may be unconstitutional

A federal judge in New Jersey ruled that President Donald Trump's effort to deport anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil is most likely unconstitutional on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz handed down the ruling, though he did not go so far as to order Khalil's release. Farbiarz argued that the Trump administration's deportation order was likely to be dismissed as "unconstitutionally vague."

"The district court held what we already knew: Secretary Rubio’s weaponization of immigration law to punish Mahmoud and others like him is likely unconstitutional," lawyers for Khalil said after the ruling.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended Khalil's arrest, saying it was for "anti-Semitic protests and disruptive activities" and citations for "unlawful activity" during the anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.

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Khalil, who was approved for deportation by a U.S. immigration judge in April, has argued that his free speech rights were being "eroded" by the Trump administration.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorneys have argued that Khalil's free speech claims were a "red herring," saying that the 30-year-old green card holder lied on his visa applications.

Khalil, they said, willfully failed to disclose his employment with the Syrian office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he applied for permanent U.S. residency.

COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTER MAHMOUD KHALIL CAN BE DEPORTED, JUDGE RULES

Khalil has Algerian citizenship through his mother, but was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.

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Khalil is married to Noor Abdalla, a U.S. citizen. They met in 2016 while volunteering in Lebanon. They married in 2023, and she was eight months pregnant at the time of his arrest.

Fox News' Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report