A Louisiana immigration judge ruled Friday that Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil is eligible for deportation after the Trump administration accused the legal permanent resident of being a threat to U.S. foreign policy for his involvement in pro-Palestinian activism.

Judge Jamee Comans issued her ruling after a nearly two-hour hearing at the LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana, where Khalil, 30, has been detained since he was arrested at his New York City apartment last month and stripped of his green-card status. The judge set a deadline of April 23 for Khalil’s legal team to apply for a wavier to delay or prevent the administration from removing him from the country, his attorneys said.

Khalil’s legal team said before the hearing that the judge’s ruling would not mean he is immediately removed from the country. Khalil has filed a federal court lawsuit in New Jersey challenging his arrest as unconstitutional, and the outcome of that case could block his deportation if they are victorious, the lawyers said.

“An immigration court determined our client Mahmoud Khalil to be removable from the U.S. based solely on his political speech,” the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing him, wrote on social media. “The fight isn’t over — we’ll keep fighting for Mahmoud’s freedom and all of our First Amendment rights in federal court.”

The ruling in Louisiana marked a milestone victory for the Trump administration, which has targeted international university students and faculty for detention and deportation. Some have been involved in campus activism and others are accused of unlawful activities.

In some cases, the scholars have been stripped of their legal status based on relatively minor legal infractions that were dropped without convictions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month the administration had revoked about 300 visas. Figures released Thursday by a nonprofit education group indicate the total figure is likely higher. The data collected by NAFSA: Association of International Educators indicates nearly 1,000 students and scholars have had their visas revoked and/or their records terminated in an ICE database, thus putting their legal status in the country in jeopardy.

According to his legal team, Khalil addressed Comans in court by saying: “I would like to quote what you said last time — that there’s nothing that’s more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness. Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process.”

Federal authorities had accused Khalil, an Algerian citizen, of fomenting antisemitic protests and supporting Hamas, a designated terror group. Khalil’s attorneys argued he is a peaceful protester who was advocating for the Palestinian people.

In a State Department memo, submitted to the court this week, Rubio said Khalil and another student, whose name was redacted, helped foster “a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”

Rubio wrote that their continued presence in the country would “undermine U.S. policy to combat antisemitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence.”

Khalil’s legal team vigorously rejected the government’s accusations. They said the Trump administration is targeting their client and others student activists over political views and violating their constitutional rights to free speech.

“This administration wants to silence Mahmoud, silence people who speak out against the government of Israel, against the government of the United States,” Marc Van Der Hout, one of Khalil’s attorneys, told reporters ahead of the hearing. “Where will this lead — throwing people in jail for speaking out about social security cuts in this country? This is a dangerous slope.”

Khalil was arrested March 8 by federal agents in plain clothes as he and his wife, a U.S. citizen who is nine months pregnant with their first child, returned to their university apartment after visiting a friend. In court filings, Khalil’s attorneys said the men described themselves as Department of Homeland Security agents and said they were revoking his student visa.

Khalil and his wife countered that he had a green card, which grants legal permanent residency in the United States, and showed them his papers.

Khalil’s lawyers have objected to his detainment in Louisiana, more than 1,300 miles from his home in New York. They filed a federal court lawsuit in New York calling his detention unconstitutional, and a judge ruled that the legal challenge could move forward in New Jersey, where Khalil was briefly detained before being sent to the Central ICE Processing Center in Jena.

Immigration judges are separate from the federal court system. Khalil’s legal team said his lawsuit will move forward despite Comans’s ruling.

“This is far from the end of the road,” said Johnny Sinodis, another of Khalil’s lawyers.

After Khalil’s arrest, President Donald Trump said in a social media post that it was the “first arrest of many” for those “who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.” He called Khalil a “Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student.”

Khalil’s supporters say he is a quiet, diplomatic, hardworking student. He was chosen as a negotiator between protesters and Columbia University’s administration as intense demonstrations were roiling campus last spring. He often spoke with reporters at protests, unmasked and using his full name, unlike many participants who sought to hide their identities.

Khalil told The Post earlier this year that he was not affiliated with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a protest group that led many pro-Palestinian actions on campus. CUAD has at times used language supportive of Hamas.

Khalil was born and raised in a refugee camp in Syria and went to college in Lebanon. He and his wife, a U.S. citizen, moved to the United States in 2023 to begin his graduate studies at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. That fall, protests over the Israel-Gaza war erupted on campus.

Khalil got his green card in November 2024.

In January, Trump said he would find and deport foreign students who joined in what he called “pro-jihadist” demonstrations.

“It sets a dangerous precedent,” Khalil told The Post at the time, “where peaceful protest is met with severe consequences, eroding democratic principles and academic freedom.”