Louisiana judge orders Khalil deportation after green card omissions

An immigration judge in Louisiana has ordered pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil deported to either Algeria or Syria after finding he omitted material information from his U.S. green card application, court documents show. Immigration Judge Jamee Comans issued the decision on Sept. 12 in Jena, denying Khalil’s request for a discretionary waiver and concluding that his omissions on the Form I-485 were deliberate rather than accidental, the documents said.

Comans wrote that Khalil failed to disclose ties to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, where he listed an internship as a political officer, and involvement with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, an anti-Israel campus coalition. The judge said Khalil also did not report prior employment at the Syria office of the British Embassy in Beirut and that the omissions were willful. “This Court finds that Respondent willfully misrepresented material facts for the sole purpose of circumventing the immigration process and reducing the likelihood his applications could be denied,” Comans wrote, according to the filing.

The order comes after a months-long legal contest between Khalil, his lawyers and...