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The Trump administration has said that Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian demonstrator Mahmoud Khalil did not disclose that he worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in his visa application, adding that the withholding such information should be grounds for deportation, Reuters reported on Sunday.
The UNRWA has become a flashpoint in the conflict in Gaza, with the Israeli side claiming that 12 of the UN agency’s employees were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Khalil, a Syrian-born Algerian citizen, entered the US on a student visa in 2022 and later applied for permanent residency in 2024, the report stated. The US government, however, claims he failed to disclose his role as a political officer for UNRWA in 2023, as well as his previous employment with the Syria office of the British embassy in Beirut and his membership in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group.
The Department of Homeland Security detained Khalil on March 8 and transferred him to a Louisiana detention facility, alleging that his continued presence in the country could have “serious foreign policy consequences.”
Khalil’s detention has sparked debate over free speech and expression in the country, with several of his supporters arguing that he is being targetted for his pro-Palestinian activism.
A judge has temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation while his petition is reviewed by a federal court in New Jersey. According to the report, his attorneys argue that the government’s new grounds for removal are “patently weak and pretextual.”
