Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil has filed a $20m claim against the U.S. government, saying he was wrongly detained and targeted for his activism.
He spent more than 100 days in an immigration detention center before being released by a federal judge in late June.
Khalil, a Palestinian refugee and permanent U.S. resident, was arrested on March 8 by immigration agents at his home in New York.
Mahmoud Khalil has filed a $20 million claim against the U.S. government
Image credits: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
His pregnant wife, Noor Abdalla, watched as agents took him away without showing a warrant.
He was held for more than three months in a remote immigration prison in Louisiana.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Khalil recalled being unable to be there for the birth of his first child.
On Thursday, his lawyers filed a $20 million claim against the Trump administration.
They say the government falsely imprisoned him, maliciously prosecuted him, and labelled him antisemitic because of his pro-Palestinian activism.
The claim is the first step toward a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The law gives private individuals the right to sue the U.S. government for wrongful acts, or torts, committed by federal employees.
The claim names the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of State, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Khalil’s deportation case is still pending in immigration court.
“They are abusing their power because they think they are untouchable,” Khalil told AP. “Unless they feel there is some sort of accountability, it will continue to go unchecked.”
Khalil says if he wins any money, he will share it with others who were also targeted for speaking out about Palestine.
He added that he would accept an apology and changes to the Trump administration’s deportation policy instead of money.
According to CNN, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the claims are “absurd” and accused Khalil of “hateful behavior and rhetoric” against Jewish students. The State Department said its actions followed the law.
Born to Palestinian parents in Syria, Khalil has been the face of the Palestinian solidarity movement in the U.S. after the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.
Image credits: Kena Betancur/Getty Images
Columbia University was the epicenter of student-led pro-Palestine protests till May 2024 after a third brief encampment on May 31. The protest faded due to police crackdowns and strict university restrictions.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s has vowed to crack down on immigration to the U.S. and on the antiwar protests, which he describes as antisemitic.
In January, he issued executive orders to remove foreign nationals deemed to have “hostile attitudes” towards the U.S. This allowed federal authorities to take “actions to remove such aliens” from the U.S.
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump wrote in January 2025.
“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
Khalil was the first major arrest in Trump’s crackdown on student protesters.
His legal claim accuses the Trump administration of mounting a haphazard and illegal campaign to “terrorize him and his family,” starting with his arrest in March.
On the night of March 8, Khalil and his wife were returning home from dinner when federal agents in plain clothes stopped him and “effectively kidnapped” him.
Khalil claims he was “effectively kidnapped” by agents without a warrant
Image credits: Kyle Mazza/Getty Images
According to the claim, the agents seemed surprised to learn he was a legal U.S. permanent resident.
While in jail, Khalil said he did not get his ulcer medicine, had to sleep under bright fluorescent lights, and was fed “nearly inedible” food. He lost 15 pounds during his time there.
At the same time, the Trump administration celebrated this arrest and spoke about how they wanted to deport people like him, who they claimed were leading “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity” protests.
Khalil said he has always spoken out against antisemitism and has never been connected to Hamas or any terror group. “At some point, it becomes like reality TV,” he said. “It’s very absurd.”
A few weeks into his detention, Khalil recalled being on the news as Secretary of State Marco Rubio showed a memo that said Khalil had not broken the law but should still be deported because his beliefs could hurt U.S. foreign policy.
“My beliefs are not wanting my tax money or tuition going toward investments in weapons manufacturers for a genocide,” Khalil said. “It’s as simple as that.”
On June 20, after 104 days in custody, a federal judge ordered Khalil’s release. The judge said deporting him based on his political beliefs was likely unconstitutional.
However, the government now accuses him of lying on his green card application. His lawyers filed a motion late Wednesday, describing those charges as baseless and retaliatory, and urging a judge to dismiss them.
Since leaving prison, Khalil leaves his house less frequently than before, fearing arrest or harassment.
He said he would continue speaking out against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Image credits: Instagram
The conflict has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
When asked if he would have done anything differently, Khalil told AP, “We could’ve communicated better. We could’ve built more bridges with more people.”
“But the core thing of opposing a genocide, I don’t think you can do that any differently. This is your moral imperative when you’re watching your people be slaughtered by the minute,” Khalil added.