Board of Immigration Appeals issues final removal order against Mahmoud Khalil

The Board of Immigration Appeals on April 9, 2026, denied Mahmoud Khalil's bid to dismiss his deportation case, issuing a final administrative removal order against the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student detained since March 2025. The government invoked INA Section 237(a)(4)(C), a foreign policy deportability ground that does not require criminal charges. A separate federal injunction from the Third Circuit kept Khalil in the U.S. while his habeas corpus case proceeds.