US relies on rare foreign policy provision to try to deport Mahmoud Khalil

Court document claims potentially serious foreign policy consequences' amid outcry over Palestinian activist's arrest

The US government is relying on a rarely used provision of the law to try to deport a prominent Palestinian activist who recently completed his graduate studies at Columbia University, where he was a leader in last year's campus protests.

A government charging document addressed to Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident and green card holder who is currently being held in a Louisiana detention center, said that secretary of state Marco Rubio has reasonable ground to believe that your presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States".