Federal officials say anti-Israel activist and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil is set to be deported to Algeria, bringing to a close a long-running legal fight over his immigration status and marking a major win for the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus activism tied to foreign policy concerns.

Khalil, who was born in Syria, is being removed after the administration accused him of committing fraud on his green card application. Homeland Security officials said Algeria is the likely destination.

“It looks like he’ll go to Algeria. That’s what the thought is right now,” Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday. “It’s a reminder for those who are in this country on a visa or on a green card: You are a guest in this country — act like it. It is a privilege, not a right.”

Khalil was among the first activists targeted during the administration’s push against anti-Israel campus protests. The government has alleged that Khalil is a Hamas supporter — a charge he denies — and justified his arrest under a rarely used statute allowing deportation of noncitizens deemed to threaten U.S. foreign policy interests.

A federal judge in New Jersey initially ordered Khalil’s release, questioning the legal basis for his detention. But last week, a federal appeals court overturned that ruling, clearing the way for immigration authorities to move forward with deportation proceedings.

The three-judge panel said Khalil’s case should proceed through the immigration court system before broader constitutional challenges could be considered.

Following the ruling, McLaughlin urged Khalil to “self-deport now,” warning that further resistance could bar him permanently from returning to the United States.

Khalil, who spent three months in an ICE detention facility, has called the allegations “baseless and ridiculous,” claiming the case is retaliation for his activism.

The administration, however, has framed the deportation as part of a broader effort to enforce immigration law and curb what it views as extremist-linked activity on U.S. campuses.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)