Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, is seeking $20 million in damages from US President Donald Trump’s administration after over 100 days in immigration detention, The Independent reported Thursday.
A court filing precedes a federal lawsuit, alleging "retaliatory arrests" and targeting of student activists. Administration officials accused Khalil of “antisemitic activities” for his role in the protests.
"There must be accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power," Khalil stated. "I’m holding the US government accountable not just for myself, but for everyone they try to silence through fear, exile, or detention."
Khalil was arrested on March 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as part of the administration’s crackdown on anti-Israel protests on US campuses.
At the time of his arrest, Khalil was a highly visible figure in the nationwide campus protests against the war in Gaza. Following his detention, US authorities transferred Khalil from his New York home to a detention center in Louisiana, where he awaited deportation proceedings.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio had invoked a law, approved during the 1950s Red Scare, which permits the United States to remove foreign nationals deemed adverse to US foreign policy.
However, a judge later ruled that the government could not detain or deport Khalil based on Rubio's assertions that his presence on US soil constituted a national security threat. Khalil was released on bail in late June.
The government specifically accuses Khalil of failing to disclose on his residency application what it described as his "membership" in the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA.
Khalil has rejected the allegations and framed his detention as retaliation for his political views.