Rather than present specific evidence of wrongdoing against Palestinian Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, the Trump administration on Thursday filed a brief memo outlining its power to deport noncitizens based on the beliefs they hold.

The memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, first reported by The Associated Press, said Khalil’s presence in the U.S. could jeopardize “U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States,” even if his activities were “otherwise lawful.”

“Condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” the two-page memo read.

The memo came in Khalil’s immigration case after multiple requests by his attorneys for evidence against him. Immigration Judge Jamee Comans requested the feds turn over evidence before he considers arguments at a hearing Friday about Khalil’s continued detention.

The green card holder, a lawful permanent resident, was taken into custody at his Columbia University-owned apartment on March 8 and told he was being deported for his participation in campus protests against the war in Gaza and Columbia’s investment ties to Israel.

The following day, Khalil was transported to a detention facility more than 1,000 miles away in Jena, Louisiana. His lawyers in the South and in New York, representing him in a habeas corpus case playing out in New Jersey, have argued for his immediate release, with his wife on the verge of giving birth to their first child.

Khalil’s immigration attorney, Marc Van Der Hout, in a statement Wednesday said the government had “provided no proof or evidence that these charges bear any viability against Mahmoud.”

“After a month of hiding the ball since Mahmoud’s late-night unjust arrest in New York and taking him away to a remote detention center in Louisiana, immigration authorities have finally admitted that they have no case whatsoever against him. Instead, the government is clearly going after Mahmoud and persecuting him for exercising his First Amendment rights,” Van Der Hout said in a statement to the Daily News.

“The government has charged Mahmoud with a rarely-used provision of the immigration laws targeting the deportation of even lawful permanent residents like Mahmoud — but Secretary of State Marco Rubio has provided no proof or evidence that these charges bear any viability against Mahmoud. Further, Secretary Rubio has shown that this is merely about targeting Mahmoud’s free speech rights about Palestine.”

Spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to The News’ requests for comment.

Khalil was the first of several students in the U.S. to be targeted this month as part of Trump’s deportation agenda. Rather than accusing Khalil of breaking U.S. laws, the administration has cited an obscure provision in a 1952 law that empowers Rubio to order someone deported if their presence in the country could pose unfavorable consequences for U.S. foreign policy, which the feds claim his advocacy for Palestinians does.

Khalil, 30, who grew up in Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, has vehemently refuted claims his advocacy is born out of antisemitic beliefs or support for Hamas, which the U.S. and other western nations designate as a terrorist group.

“(As) a Palestinian student, I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand and you cannot achieve one without the other,” he told CNN in September.

_____

©2025 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.