Over roughly three hours of testimony in a central Louisiana immigration court on Thursday, the student organizer, Palestinian rights advocate and prisoner Mahmoud Khalil described his extraordinary, ordinary life.
He recounted growing up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, before fleeing the country to Lebanon as activist friends were "disappeared." Much later, he built a new life at Columbia University in New York, where he planned a career in diplomacy, got married and took part in cinema and hiking clubs.
He said he could not have predicted the U.S. then detaining him for months, in what he and his lawyers view as retaliation for his political beliefs — a situation much like the one he once feared in Syria.
"I spent a good time of my life fleeing from harm, advocating for the marginalized to have rights. That's what put me in danger," he said.
Khalil spoke at length as part of a 10-hour hearing as the U.S. is attempting to deport him. Thursday's proceedings underscored the stakes of his case, which he and his legal team contend could lead to his death if he’s deported to Syria or Algeria, whose passport he holds.
Lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, sought to discredit that perspective, suggesting that there are places in Syria — which recently underwent a regime change — that might be safe for Khalil. They also made much of the fact that he recently visited the country for a few days and was unharmed.
Khalil was arrested by ICE agents in plain clothes on March 8 while inside the New York apartment complex where he lives. He was transferred later that month to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in rural Jena, Louisiana, where he has remained since.
The case has received intense public scrutiny for its perceived implications for First Amendment free-speech and assembly rights. As a graduate student at Columbia, Khalil was prominently involved in student protests supporting Palestinians, especially following the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in Gaza.
Khalil appeared in court wearing a short-sleeved dark shirt and a close-cropped beard. He said he has been "mislabeled" as a terrorist sympathizer by top U.S. officials and President Donald Trump, who on March 10 called Khalil a "Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student" in a social media post.
"I advocate for human rights, for international law, for the end of the killing of innocent people," Khalil testified. He said he will continue to protest for Palestinian lives, and will urge others to do the same.
Immigration Judge Jamee Comans limited testimony and argument to Khalil's application for asylum. She dismissed several motions without oral explanation, including a renewed motion by Khalil's attorneys to have the case thrown out over alleged misstatements by the government.
At times, she seemed to have little patience for the case, castigating his lawyers for putting on experts to "regurgitate" their written reports. But she appeared to listen carefully to Khalil's testimony throughout the afternoon.
Comans did not rule on the case Thursday, which she said includes nearly 2,000 pages of evidence. Lawyers will provide written closing arguments which are due on June 2. A ruling is then likely within the next few weeks.
Comans has consistently ruled against Khalil so far. In a prior hearing in April, Comans found that DHS has grounds to deport Khalil under an obscure provision of immigration law, solely because Secretary of State Marco Rubio deemed him a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.
Rubio did so in a short letter that said Khalil was a threat because of his pro-Palestinian activism. That activism, Rubio claims, is antisemitic.
Activism paired with the notoriety brought in part by his immigration case could make him a prime target for an Israeli covert assassination in Algeria or Syria, a battery of experts in Middle Eastern affairs who testified for Khalil said. Those prospects are worsened by an unstable political situation in Syria and porous borders in Algeria.
Advocacy for Palestine "forcefully, eloquently and with international recognition" could damage the reputation of Israel, and thus could make him a target, said Muriam Davis, who directs the Center for the Middle East and North Africa at UC Santa Cruz.
"He could just simply be killed. That is a distinct possibility," added Khaled Elgindy, a policy expert in Israeli-Palestinian affairs.
Khalil told the court he fears not just pro-Israel attacks, but also remnants of the dictatorial Assad regime in Syria, which he organized against.
While the case in Louisiana is focused on the question of whether Khalil can be deported, a separate case for Khalil is moving through in a federal court in New Jersey. His lawyers have filed a habeas corpus petition there, arguing that he should be released while his deportation proceedings play out.
As Khalil's proceedings unfolded, dozens of protesters lined the winding road across the street from the immigration detention and court facility, which is a large complex lined with looping razor wire. Carrying signs with slogans like "Free Occupied Palestine," demonstrators' chants were so loud they echoed off the building.
"Shame! Shame!" the group chanted.
Earlier that day, Khalil met his son Deen, who is his first child, for the first time. Lawyers had argued for Khalil's ability to be present during the little boy's birth and then for a "contact" visit between Khalil and the baby and his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, which a court had to intervene to allow.
The month-old infant was present in court for much of the day, fussing every once in a while, but mostly sleeping soundly.
In short remarks to reporters, Marc Van Der Hout, one of Khalil's lawyers, said although the case is "outrageous," his client understands it as a political case.
"He understands he’s been made an example of, and that this is about the rights of people throughout the country and throughout the world, actually, to protest what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank," he said.
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.
