The Associated Press reports that Mahmoud Khalil has filed a $20 million claim against the Trump administration, alleging that he was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted, and slandered as an antisemite as the government sought to have him summarily deported without due process. The filing claims that Khalil was “effectively kidnapped” by federal agents when he was arrested on March 8th, and that the Trump administration sought, through his detention, to “terrorize him and his family.”
“I cannot describe the pain of that night,” Khalil told the AP, recounting the night ten weeks ago when his son Deen was born, which he spent pacing back and forth in a cold Louisiana jail cell. “This is something I will never forgive.” Khalil was arrested as he entered his apartment building with his wife on March 8th, and was brought to a detention center in New Jersey before being transferred to the facility in Jena, Louisiana.
Khalil described harrowing conditions of his detention to the AP, saying that he was forced to sleep under harsh lights, lost 15 pounds due to “nearly inedible” food, and was denied his ulcer medication. While stomach ulcers can heal on their own, if left untreated, they can worsen to the point of gastrointestinal bleeding that can lead to severe blood loss.
He was released on June 20th, after a judge ruled that he did not pose a danger to the community and was not a flight risk, as the Trump administration had argued in justifying his detention. The judge in Khalil’s case, Michael Farbiarz, also denied the administration’s request to have proceed with his case in Louisiana rather than New Jersey, a request that was broadly believed to be a case of “forum shopping” for a friendly judge.
A Columbia graduate, Khalil was a central figure in the protests that took place on the school’s campus in spring of 2024, becoming the lead spokesperson and negotiator for student activists who formed encampments in public areas. The protesters at the Ivy League school in New York, along with others on campuses across the country, demanded that their institutions divest from Israel due to the country’s invasion of Gaza, which has been deemed a genocide by human rights organizations and scholars.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin called Khalil’s claim “absurd” in an email to the AP, accusing him of engaging in “hateful behavior and rhetoric” that she says threatened Jewish students.
Despite the harsh allegations from officials and pro-Israel organizations, there is no record of Khalil engaging in any antisemitic rhetoric. Khalil responded in turn that the DHS official’s claims against him are “absurd,” likening the situation to “reality TV.”
Mahmoud Khalil was born to Palestinian parents in a refugee camp in Syria. His family originally hails from a small village close to Tiberias, from which his grandparents were forced to flee in April 1948, after Zionist militias burned down a neighboring town.
