From a small courtroom in a remote immigration jail in Jena, La., Judge Jamee Comans ruled on Friday that the government can deport Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil based solely on his advocacy for Palestine.

Comans made her decision after weighing a single piece of evidence from the government, submitted in court two days earlier: a 1 ½-page letter written by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in which he stated that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”

Friday’s decision represents a major blow to Khalil and other protesters targeted by the Trump administration. But Khalil’s attorneys promised the fight would continue in the courts.

Two major paths remain open to Khalil: one within the immigration court system and the other in federal district court. Despite Friday’s immigration court decision, Khalil’s attorneys continue to argue in federal district court in New Jersey for his release on free speech grounds. A resolution in the federal case could arrive in a matter of days or weeks. In immigration court, Khalil could apply for asylum, and appeal the ruling before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and could pursue further appeals within the U.S. circuit court – processes that could stretch for months, or even years.

Khalil and his attorneys seem committed to such a lengthy fight, in part because they know because the outcome of his case carries major implications for other cases in which the Trump administration is targeting immigrants with arrest and deportation.

“There’s no stopping at Mahmoud Khalil, there’s no stopping at just pro-Palestinian protesters,” said Baher Azmy, a lead attorney in Khalil’s legal team on Friday. “Next, it could be LGBTQI activists under some pretext that that interferes with our foreign relations with Russia, racial justice activists, anyone.”

Path to release

Separate from Khalil’s fight in the immigration court system is his petition for release, which is playing out in New Jersey’s federal district court. There, Khalil’s attorneys are arguing that his free speech rights are being violated and that he must be released.

That decision will come down to Judge Michael Farbiarz, who inherited the........

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