Mahmoud Khalil, identified as a leading anti-Israel figure at Columbia University, has been granted bail after efforts by the Trump administration to deport him were halted temporarily. This action is part of their ongoing attempts to detain him on “foreign policy” grounds.

Khalil posted his $1 bond on Thursday afternoon. He has not been released.

This development followed a decision by U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, who supported Khalil’s case, stating: “The government cannot claim an interest in enforcing what seems to be an unconstitutional law.”

Khalil was accused of intentionally omitting his employment with the Syrian division at the British Embassy in Beirut when he sought permanent U.S. residency. Additionally, he was charged with not disclosing his involvement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and his membership in Columbia University Apartheid Divest.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil’s removal from the U.S. The provision allows the Secretary of State to deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the U.S. “would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”

A pro-Gaza ceasefire tent encampment at Columbia University on April 28, 2024. (Getty Images)

Rubio accused Khalil of participating in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which foster a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”

“Condoning antisemitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” Rubio wrote.

Khalil has Algerian citizenship through his mother, but was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.