in a victory for the Trump administration an immigration judge in Louisiana on Friday ruled that Colombia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from the country as a national security risk ruling that the 30-year-old Palestinian activist's presence here posed potentially serious foreign policy consequences khalil is a legal permanent US resident and was the first international student arrested in recent weeks amid a broad crackdown on pro Palestinian demonstrations on US college campuses but the judge's decision doesn't mean this legal battle is over khalil's attorneys have until April 23rd to file for relief and he can remain in the US until then meanwhile a separate federal judge in New Jersey has temporarily barred Khalil's deportation while he fights another legal challenge here on the grounds that he's being targeted for constitutionally protected free speech for more on that I'm joined by ACLU New Jersey Executive Director Amol Sinha thanks so much for coming on the show can you just update us broadly on where things stand and also what you anticipate to differ with the hearing that Khalil will have here in federal court in Newark uh thanks for having me um so on Friday an immigration judge in Louisiana held that Mr khalil is deportable now that doesn't mean that he will be deported it just means that he is deportable under the immigration law um and and we think that ruling was baseless now what's different about the New Jersey case in federal court in New Jersey is that we're actually going to try to get to the merits there about whether or not uh Mr khalil's First Amendment rights were violated and if so then that's a constitutional violation and he should be immediately released and uh and any threat of deportation should be removed i mean Khalil is a green card holder he's here as a permanent legal resident of the US but are there interpretations of the Constitution that could say he's not a US citizen and so the same rights are not afforded to him when it comes to free speech no look the the First Amendment applies to everybody in the United States regardless of their immigration status so if he is a citizen or a permanent resident or a visa holder First Amendment still applies and for undocumented people too we all have free speech rights um and so if the court says that in this instance uh free speech rights don't apply then we have a much bigger problem um and so what we need to do is make sure that the constitution is protected and that this constitutionally protected speech is not used as a reason to deport somebody we've seen uh obviously since this has happened with Khalil um other international students who have been detained international students whose visas have been revoked uh from where you sit what is this tactic do you see it as a targeting of the government or is it within their jurisdiction to make the decision of when someone's visa should and should not be in good standing i I think this is a blatant attempt to target people for their views and to rid the country of immigrants it's two things happening at the same time we're seeing proactive silencing of people who desent from uh US foreign policy in particular uh and we're also seeing an attempt to do whatever the government can to uh deport as many people as possible this is all a part of Trump's mass deportation scheme and they're using the tactic of protest and the weaponization of protests on campus uh to get people out as much as possible are you confident about how the case will play out in New Jersey look there are many more steps before um we reach a final conclusion but I am confident that uh the federal court in New Jersey will see what this is which is a violation of somebody's first amendment rights um and that we will win the day in Mr khalil's case you know he is uh uh he was arrested brutally uh detained uh threatened with deportation and threatened to have his green card revoked all for constitutionally protected speech and that's a big big red flag regardless of where you fall on the ideological spectrum on any issue if you care about free speech if you care about democracy you should be outraged by what's happening to Mr khalil and his family very quickly um how are he and his family what does this mean for where he's located and we know his uh wife is expecting a baby so is he still in Louisiana and should we expect that he'll be there as this plays out he's still in Louisiana and the government is fighting to hold the case in Louisiana um but what we're saying is like is that no this belongs in New Jersey where he was first detained and where he filed his first papers and that's what uh Judge Farbars in the in the uh district of New Jersey held um and so we're hopeful that he will be uh first of all released um uh while the penency of this trial goes out goes goes on um and ultimately uh he will prevail and be there for the birth of his child um so we I can't imagine what his family is going through right now um you know he is in good spirits and and and powering through uh but it is a very hard time for that family and they are uh dealing with you know the a hostile federal government that is attacking its own people for uh for exercising their constitutional rights Amol Sinha the executive director for New Jerseys ACLU chapter thanks so much for coming on the show thank you for having me [Music]