Mahmoud Khalil, an alumnus of Columbia University, is demanding $20 million in compensation from the administration of President Donald Trump after spending more than 100 days in immigration custody, according to a report by The Independent on Thursday.
In advance of a formal federal lawsuit, a court filing alleges that Khalil was the victim of politically motivated arrests and efforts to suppress campus activism. Officials in the administration claimed Khalil had engaged in “antisemitic activities” due to his involvement in anti-Israel demonstrations.
“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.”
On March 8, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended Khalil as part of a broader effort to clamp down on campus protests critical of Israel.
At the time he was taken into custody, Khalil had become a prominent voice in student-led demonstrations nationwide opposing the war in Gaza. After his arrest, federal authorities relocated him from his residence in New York to a detention facility in Louisiana to face deportation proceedings.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited a Cold War-era statute passed during the 1950s Red Scare, which allows for the expulsion of foreign nationals considered detrimental to American foreign policy.
But a judge later determined that Rubio’s claims were insufficient to justify Khalil’s continued detention or deportation, ruling that the government lacked grounds to classify him as a national security threat. Khalil was subsequently granted release on bail in late June.
Officials have accused Khalil of omitting from his immigration paperwork what they called his “membership” in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Khalil denies any wrongdoing and insists his arrest and detention were punitive actions in response to his political speech.
{Matzav.com}