Louisiana immigration judge Jamee Comans ruled late last month that Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil was eligible for deportation. “There should not be an advantage, no matter how small or how large, provided to a particular party over the other,” says Ahmed. Khalil remains one of the most high-profile targets of the Trump administration’s ongoing push to expel foreign students protesting Israel’s actions. The US government has not accused Khalil, whose wife and newborn son were born in the US, of committing any crime. Ahmed, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana, appeared to argue against the enhanced secrecy on April 11.