Freed activist Mahmoud Khalil files $20 million claim against Trump administration
Palestinian-American activist Mahmoud Khalil has filed a $20 million legal claim against the Trump administration, accusing U.S. officials of wrongful imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and defamation over his high-profile deportation case tied to pro-Palestinian campus protests.
Khalil, 30, a former Columbia University graduate student, was detained for 104 days at an ICE facility in Louisiana after being arrested without a warrant on March 8. He was released in June after a federal judge ruled that the government’s attempt to deport him on foreign policy grounds was likely unconstitutional, News.Az reports, citing CNN.
“This is something I will never forgive,” Khalil said, cradling his newborn son, Deen, in his Manhattan apartment. “Unless they feel some sort of accountability, it will continue to go unchecked.”
The claim, a step toward a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act, names the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and the State Department. It alleges Khalil was detained in harsh conditions, denied medical treatment, and smeared as antisemitic despite no criminal charges or ties to terrorist groups.
DHS dismissed the claim as “absurd,” while the State Department said it acted within the law.
Khalil’s case became emblematic of what critics call Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian dissent. He now faces new, allegedly retaliatory charges of misrepresentation on his green card application.
Despite the ordeal, Khalil vows to keep speaking out: “Opposing a genocide is your moral imperative when your people are being slaughtered by the minute,” he said.
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