By SARA CLINE and KATE BRUMBACK

JENA, La. (AP) — Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be deported as a national security risk, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled Friday during a hearing over the legality of kicking the activist who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations out of the U.S.

Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans said at the conclusion of a hearing in Jena that the government’s contention that Khalil’s presence in the United States posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” was enough to satisfy requirements for his deportation.

Comans said the government had “established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable.”

Lawyers for Khalil are expected to appeal. And a federal judge in New Jersey has temporarily barred Khalil’s removal from the country.

Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under President Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza.

Within a day, he was flown across the country and taken to an immigration detention center in Jena, thousands of miles from his attorneys and wife, a U.S. citizen who is due to give birth soon.

Khalil’s lawyers have challenged the legality of his detention, saying the Trump administration is trying to crack down on free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify Khalil’s deportation, which gives him power to deport those who pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

At Friday’s hearing, Khalil attorney Marc Van Der Hout told the judge that the government’s submissions to the court prove the attempt to deport his client “has nothing to do with foreign policy.”

Earlier this week, Comans challenged the government to share proof that Khalil should be expelled from the country for his role in campus protests against Israel and the war in Gaza. She said if evidence does not support his removal, she would “terminate the case on Friday.”

On Friday, Justice Department attorneys said in papers filed in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, that Comans would not have the authority to immediately free Khalil.

They said an immigration judge could determine if Khalil is subject to deportation and then conduct a bail hearing afterward if it is found that he is not.

Khalil isn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The government, however, has said that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and “pro-Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Khalil, a 30-year-old international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

The university brought police in to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn’t among the people arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

But images of his maskless face at protests, along with his willingness to share his name with reporters, have made him an object of scorn among those who saw the protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused Khalil of “siding with terrorists,” but has yet to cite any support for the claim.

Federal judges in New York and New Jersey have ordered the government not to deport Khalil while his case plays out in court.

The Trump administration has said it is taking at least $400 million in federal funding away from research programs at Columbia and its medical center to punish it for not doing enough to fight what it considers to be antisemitism on campus.

Some Jewish students and faculty complained about being harassed during the demonstrations or ostracized because of their faith or their support of Israel.

Immigration authorities have cracked down on other critics of Israel on college campuses, arresting a Georgetown University scholar who had spoken out on social media about the Israel-Gaza war, canceling the student visas of some protesters and deporting a Brown University professor who they said had attended the Lebanon funeral of a leader of Hezbollah, another militant group that has fought with Israel.

Brumback reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporter Larry Neumeister in New York contributed.

LONDON (AP) — Ireland’s data privacy watchdog said Friday it’s investigating Elon Musk’s social media platform X over its use of personal data to train his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok.

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The Data Protection Commission said it has opened an inquiry into “the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts” that European users posted on X.

“The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether this personal data was lawfully processed in order to train the Grok LLMs” under the bloc’s data privacy law, the commission said in a statement posted online.

An LLM, or a large language model, is a vast pool of text including articles, blog posts, essays and other material scraped from online sources that is used to teach the algorithms underpinning generative AI systems.

Under the 27-nation EU’s stringent data privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, the Irish watchdog acts as the lead regulator for X because its European headquarters is based in Dublin.

The watchdog has the power to impose penalties of up to 20 million euros or 4% of a company’s total annual revenue for severe violations.

X did not respond to an email request for comment.

By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch is suffering from dementia and isn’t competent to stand trial on sex trafficking charges, according to prosecutors and his lawyers.

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Michael Jeffries requires round-the-clock care because the 80-year-old has Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia and the “residual effects of a traumatic brain injury,” defense attorneys wrote in a letter filed Thursday in a New York federal court, citing recent evaluations by medical professionals.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers want a federal judge in Central Islip to place Jeffries in the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons for up to four months so that he can be hospitalized and receive treatment that might allow his criminal case to proceed.

Jeffries has been free on a $10 million bond since pleading not guilty in October to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges.

Prosecutors say Jeffries, his romantic partner and a third man lured men to drug-fueled sex parties in New York City, the Hamptons and other locations by dangling the promise of modeling for the retailer’s ads.

Lawyers for Jeffries didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday. The U.S. attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York declined to comment.

In their letter, Jeffries’ lawyers said at least four medical professionals concluded that their client’s cognitive issues are “progressive and incurable” and that he will not “regain his competency and cannot be restored to competency in the future.”

They said the doctors found that his cognitive issues “significantly impair” his ability to understand the charges against him, and to consult and participate with his counsel in his defense.

FILE – Michael Jeffries, former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, leaves following a hearing at the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, in West Palm Beach, Fla., Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

“The progressive nature of his neurocognitive disorder ensures continued decline over time, further diminishing his already limited functional capacity,” Dr. Alexander Bardey, a forensic psychiatrist, and Dr. Cheryl Paradis, a forensic psychologist, wrote following their December evaluations. “It is, therefore, our professional opinion, within a reasonable degree of psychological and psychiatric certainty, that Mr. Jeffries is not competent to proceed in the current case and cannot be restored to competency in the future.”

Jeffries left Abercrombie in 2014 after leading the company for more than two decades. He presided over the retailer’s evolution from a Manhattan hunting and outdoor goods store founded in 1892 to a fixture of teen mall culture during the early 2000s.

Jeffries’ partner, Matthew Smith, has also pleaded not guilty and remains out on bond, as does their co-defendant, James Jacobson.

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo

With only three regular-season games left and the Frost’s postseason hopes hanging in the balance, the intensity and anxiety usually associated with such a scenario have been replaced by unwanted down time and a splintered roster.

In other words, a less than ideal situation. It’s all due to a nearly month-long break for the World Championships, and an unfortunate reality for the fledgling league that could get even worse before it gets better.

“Honestly, I’m worried about next year,” Frost coach Ken Klee said. “Next year we’ll have the Olympic break, and I’ve heard through the rumor mill that they’re not going to move the World Championships. So, there will be a huge three-week break in February and huge one in April.

“It’s gong to be tough for this league, but it is what it is.”

The Frost have 10 players currently competing in the World Championships in Czechia, six for Team USA, two for Canada and two for Czechia. Klee’s challenge is to make the most of the practice time he has with the remaining members of the roster.

“We’re trying to mix it up, we’re trying to make it fun,” he said. “We’re having skills days and goalie days and battle days. We’re trying to keep it fresh and stay as sharp as you can with 12 players.”

Frost defender Maggie Flaherty believes Klee and his assistant coaches are making the most of the situation.

“I think our staff does a great job of changing things up and keeping the momentum high in practice, even if we are missing half our team,” the Lakeville native said. “As a player, obviously it kind of stinks not playing games and having a month off before playoffs.

“But I don’t see it as a momentum killer. You still have to be competitive (in practice) and keep in shape.”

The Frost last played on March 30, a 5-2 win over Toronto at Xcel Energy Center. Their next game is on April 26 against New York, their final home game of the regular season. The Frost finish with road games at Ottawa and Boston, all three games coming in a one-week span.

Winning all three games in regulation would assure the Frost a playoff spot. Klee doesn’t think it will take a sweep for the Frost to get in, and believes overtaking Boston for third place is still very much in play. The Fleet are two points ahead of the Frost.

“We know we have to play well, we know we have to get a couple wins,” Klee said. “If we get two wins, we’re probably in a good spot. It’s no different than last year — it came down to last few games.

“Last year we kind of backed our way in. This year we can’t do that.”

The defending PWHL champions find themselves in their current state due to a season that has been marked by inconsistent play. Management and players alike are encouraged by how well the team played just prior to the break.

“Every season, there’s ebbs and flows,” Flaherty said. “But I think we’re starting to play the kind of hockey we would like to play right before playoffs. That’s when you want to peak. Obviously, getting the points early in the season is nice to have that cushion if you need it. But I think we’re playing how we want to play, and hopefully it will roll into these last few games and into the playoffs.”

Klee knew his team would be challenged by an influx of new talent throughout the league. The Frost’s response has been mixed.

“We’ve had good moments,” Klee said, “it’s just finding that balance and consistency night in and night out. We’ve had a couple nights where maybe we didn’t defend well, a couple nights where we couldn’t find the back of the net.

“You go up and down our roster and there are players who have been really consistent throughout the year, and ones that haven’t. That’s the difference with everything so tight. We have a few players who would like to have better individual stats, whether it be (due to) injury or other things.”

Flaherty said the Frost will be able to use the experience gained from last year’s postseason success, which followed a five-game losing streak to end the regular season, as a guide to lead them through another difficult challenge.

“Last year it was just ‘stick together,’ ” Flaherty said. “We had a rough stretch, but we stuck together as a team, and just took it one game at a time. I think that helped push us into the playoffs and ultimately winning the Walter Cup.”

In the meantime, Klee is doing his best to make sure his players don’t dwell on the job they will be facing once the games resume.

“I know it’s big,” he said, “but now’s the time we can relax because we have three weeks until we do it. There’s no sense getting worked up about it now. That week will be intense and we’re going to have to perform.”