What rights do green card holders have? Immigration experts answer questions around Mahmoud Khalil’s case

The arrest of Mahmoud Khalil
, a green card holder and former Columbia University student involved in pro-Palestinian campus protests in 2024, is raising questions about the rights of permanent residents in the United States. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Khalil
, a lawful U.S. resident married to an American citizen, in New York on March 8. He is currently being held in Louisiana. 

Khalil has not been charged with a crime. The Trump administration argues it can deport him on foreign policy grounds.

Here’s what to know about the rights of green card holders:

What is a green card?

A green card, or a Permanent Resident Card, allows non-citizens to live and work permanently in the United States. Individuals can be eligible for a green card through family, employment, refugee status and other reasons. 

Most green cards are valid for 10 years and then need to be renewed, similar to how U.S. citizens need to renew their passports, explained David Leopold, an immigration law expert and partner at UB Greensfelder. 

“The card expires, but the residency doesn’t expire,” he said, adding if a card is “not renewed, there could be ramifications because you have to maintain the registration, but the status itself never expires assuming the person complies with the law.”

How can a green card be revoked?

There are a number of reasons why an individual could lose their green card and be deported. 

“Any green card holder can be subject to deportation depending on the situation,” Leopold said. 

Most cases occur because a green card holder commits a crime, including violent crimes, marriage fraud, controlled substance abuse and other offenses. If they are convicted, typically after they serve their sentence in the U.S., they would face removal proceedings that involve going before an immigration judge, Leopold said. 

A person can also lose their permanent resident status because of “substantiated charges of immigration fraud in the immigration process,” Elora Mukherjee, a Columbia Law School professor and director of the university’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, said.

Mukherjee said people whose green cards are being revoked are typically given a notice to appear before an immigration judge.

“They have the opportunity to either contest why they should be allowed to keep their status or concede that their status can be taken away,” she said. “Lawful permanent residents can’t be stripped of their status in the United States without any due process.”

The severity of the crime may affect the judge’s decision. In cases of violent crimes, “deportation becomes nearly automatic,” Leopold said. In some cases, an individual may be able to ask a judge to cancel their deportation. The judge would have to decide whether the person’s conviction is outweighed by other considerations, such as community ties, family ties or their work in the U.S., he explained, but added, “that doesn’t apply to every case.”

The procedure for how a green card holder’s status could be revoked is set by the Immigration and Nationality Act, Mukherjee said. 

Under the act, green card holders do not need to be convicted of a crime to be deported, Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, an immigration law professor at Cornell Law School, told The Associated Press. For example, if there are reasonable grounds to believe they engaged in, or are likely to engage in, terrorist activities, they could be deported, she said.

Another reason a green card holder could lose their status is if they leave the United States for too long. 

“Typically if they stay out of the United States for more than a year,” their status will be challenged when they come back, Leopold said.

Green card vs. citizenship

A green card holder is not a citizen. To become a naturalized citizen, they would need to apply and meet various requirements. 

Do green card holders have the same rights as U.S. citizens?

Everyone in the United States is protected by the U.S. Constitution. This includes green card holders, visa holders and undocumented immigrants.

But, unlike citizens, green card holders are susceptible to being removed if they violate their status in the U.S., Leopold said.

What is the Immigration and Nationality Act? 

The Immigration and Nationality Act is a set of immigration law provisions enacted in 1952.

The act includes numerous grounds for deportation, including a provision that says a non-citizen “whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.”

A government document obtained by CBS News shows this is the provision the Trump administration is using to justify Khalil’s arrest.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt alleged on March 11 that Khalil has distributed “pro-Hamas” flyers. Hamas, a U.S. designated terrorist group that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, is responsible for the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza
.

Khalil’s attorney, Amy Greer, said in a statement his detention was illegal. 

“He was chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent, in violation of the First Amendment,” she said.

Matthew Boaz, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky’s J. David Rosenberg College of Law, wrote in a Lawfare article that “one cannot simply be stripped of their residency, even by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.”

Cases go before a federal immigration judge, who works for the Department of Justice, “so it’s not an independent judiciary,” Leopold said.

“The law requires that the government make its proof by clear and convincing evidence,” which is the highest standard in civil law, but not as high as beyond a reasonable doubt, required in criminal cases, Leopold explained. 

The particular foreign policy provision referenced by the administration is rarely used, Leopold said, calling it “a vestige of the Cold War.”

Where is Mahmoud Khalil being held?

Khalil was arrested in New York by federal immigration authorities. He was first brought to a detention center in New Jersey and then flown to another site in Jena, Louisiana, his lawyers said. 

“Louisiana is home to several ICE detention facilities and it’s fairly common for non-citizens who are facing removal proceedings to be transferred to places like Louisiana due to available detention space in that state,” Robin Nunn, a legal analyst and trial attorney, told CBS News 24/7 on March 11. 

Khalil’s attorneys are trying to reverse his transfer to Louisiana, calling it “blatantly improper.”

contributed to this report.