An immigration judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration may deport Mahmoud Khalil, the legal alien who became a fixture in the pro-Hamas campus agitation at Columbia University. This is just the first step in the removal process, though an important one. There will now be an appeal in the immigration tribunal, and challenges in the judicial courts.
As we’ve anticipated, the Trump administration is acting at the outer rim of its constitutional and statutory authority in seeking to expel legal aliens from the United States over what, if engaged in by Americans, would be constitutionally protected speech and association. That is apparent from a submission made to an immigration court by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the basis of which Khalil was held removable.
Comments