Welcome to the Beat. I am Ari Melbert, and it is Friday in many ways after the week America and the

markets have had. Many people could be ready for moving forward into weekend activities. We do

have a lot of big news nights, some special guests, and something fun by the end of the hour.

The top story here involves several legal touch points. First, I can tell you the legal news this

evening, the judge here in that

very controversial case is ruling with the Trump administration that a Columbia University student,

Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained last month, can actually now be deported. And this is unusual.

It is also how the rule of law works. Sometimes people have strong feelings or disagreement with government

actions, but here it is judges overseeing them. They just say that they think it is valid that

the administration cited what is an obscure immigration provision that does give the Secretary of State

the authority to do individual deportations. Mind you, this wouldn't work on a massive scale because

it's case by case. But the Trump

administration, through this process, basically has allegations, which we are referring to. This has

not yet been fully litigated or at all proven in court. The Trump administration is saying

this individual-led activities that they view as, quote, aligned to Hamas. I can tell you as well that the lawyers

on the defense side deny that. And they say there's not much evidence they're aware of that could

go anywhere close to that. Now, when you talk about free speech and political activities, we do know

this immigrant student was organizing pro-Palestinian protests on campus, which of course is

something people are allowed to do

in the United States. You can organize protests about all kinds of things peacefully. The ruling comes from

the conservative Fifth Circuit, which is based in New Orleans. That's also where the detention

centers are held. The post reports, it's also widely considered the nation's most conservative

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