A U.S. immigration judge has ordered the deportation of a 30-year-old citizen protesting against antisemitism and disruptive activities

The two-page letter, which was submitted in an immigration court filing on Wednesday and published Thursday with redactions by Khalil’s legal team, alleges that Mahmoud Khalil participated in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities,” and that his continuing presence in the U.S. would have “potentially serious adverse foreign consequences, and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.”

Lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security released their evidence against Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and lawful permanent resident, after an immigration judge in Louisiana ordered them to do so at a hearing on Tuesday.

The Trump administration is trying to deport the 30-year-old who played a prominent role in campus protests last year. Judge Jamee Comans said she will rule on Friday whether Khalil can be deported, or whether he must be freed.

There are multiple tracks for Khalid’s legal case. While an immigration judge considers the evidence against him, Khalid’s lawyers are also challenging his March 8 detention in federal court in New Jersey.

Rubio relied on a rarely-used statute from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that authorizes the Secretary of State to personally order the deportation of people whose presence in the U.S. he believes “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

But after the Cold War ended, lawmakers modified the law in 1990 to protect “beliefs, statements, or associations would be lawful within the United States,” and raised the standard for deportation to cases in which the foreigner’s presence in the U.S. would “compromise a compelling United States foreign policy interest.”

Free speech advocates argue the administration is violating the Constitution by targeting immigrants for their activism and their political beliefs. A number of students and scholars, including Khalil, have filed lawsuits against their arrest on constitutional grounds.

In a hearing Friday at the remote Louisiana detention center where Khalil is being held, Judge Jamee Comans said she had no authority to question Rubio’s determination.

Pinto said that despite these differences, the signers felt aligned on the question of Suri’s detention. They agree, Pinto said, that the arrest of Suri, Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk, along with the revocation of student and work visas of many others — violates civil liberties, and creates a climate of fear.

The antisemitic angle that Jews wield an excessive amount of power in society was reinforced by the administration’s post of “Shalom Mahmud” on X.

The letter by the Georgetown students, professors and alumni states that President Trump is using Jewish identity, faith and fear of antisemitism as a smokescreen to destroy the campus climate for everyone.

The student in the Democracy and Governance program wrote a public letter saying that the federal government incursion does nothing for the safety of the people in the area.

It comes after the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced they will begin screening for antisemitic activity on social media.

NPR reached out to the administration for comment on the letter’s assertion — that the prominent detentions and deportation threats weaponize antisemitism. DHS’ Tricia McLaughlin responded, “Pretty absurd mental gymnastics to believe that revoking visas of individuals who glorify and support terrorists, harass Jews and do the bidding of organizations that relish the killing of Americans and Jews, is in fact, making Jewish students less safe.”

According to the lawyers of Suri, there is no evidence that he has spread propaganda, and that the Trump administration retaliated against him because of his support for Palestinians.

Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said on X: “Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”

Pinto said you might find protests for Palestine antisemitic. But, “You also agree that detaining people and sowing fear in a community is not the way.”