Freed Pro-Palestinian Activist Sues Trump for $20 Million

Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil poses for a portrait during an interview in New York, July 3, 2025.

Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure in recent US campus protests supporting Palestine, has filed a $20 million lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging illegal arrest and detention by immigration authorities.

A legal permanent US resident, Khalil is married to an American citizen and has a US-born child. He was arrested in March and spent 104 days in a federal immigration detention center in Louisiana before being released on bail last month following a court order.

The legal claim, supported by the Center for Constitutional Rights, accuses the administration of executing an “illegal plan to arrest, detain, and deport” Khalil in a way designed to “terrorize him and his family.” The filing notes that Khalil endured “severe emotional distress, economic hardship, and damage to his reputation.”

A Columbia University graduate, Khalil emerged as a leading voice in student protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza. He was branded a national security threat by the Trump administration.

Khalil described the lawsuit as a necessary “first step towards accountability,” adding, “Nothing can restore the 104 days stolen from me—the trauma, the separation from my wife, the birth of my first child that I was forced to miss.”

He previously spoke about his experience in detention, where he lived in overcrowded conditions with more than 70 other men, enduring constant light and no privacy.

Responding to the lawsuit, a Department of Homeland Security official defended the administration’s actions, stating that Khalil was detained under “statutory and constitutional authority” as someone who “advocated violence, supported terrorism, harassed Jews, and damaged property.”

The administration has argued that Khalil’s continued stay in the US could cause “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”

His arrest came amid broader efforts by Donald Trump to challenge top US universities over foreign student policies, including moves to cut funding and threaten accreditation for institutions like Columbia and Harvard.

Though now released, Khalil’s legal team has raised concerns over potential threats to his safety.