Overview
- The Board of Immigration Appeals, which operates inside the Justice Department, issued a final removal order on Thursday, according to Khalil’s lawyers, and the nonpublic decision denied his bid to dismiss the case.
- His attorneys say an active habeas case in the Third Circuit blocks detention or deportation for now, and they plan to appeal the board’s ruling to the Fifth Circuit.
- The government’s case relies on a Secretary of State foreign‑policy determination and an allegation that he failed to disclose UNRWA-related work on his green card application.
- After 104 days in ICE custody last year, a New Jersey judge ordered his release, then a January Third Circuit panel ruled that the district court lacked jurisdiction to do so.
- Khalil’s team frames the case as retaliation for protected speech, while officials have described his activism as aligned with Hamas without presenting public proof, underscoring a broader test of executive-run immigration courts and free-speech claims.