Weeks after being released from immigration detention, Mahmoud Khalil, a key negotiator and spokesperson during Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian campus protests, has filed an administrative complaint against the Trump administration seeking $20 million in damages.
Khalil, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than three months as the Trump administration pushed for his deportation, alleges false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other alleged wrongdoings.
The complaint, a precursor to a federal lawsuit, was filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil arrives at Newark Liberty International Airport a day after being released from immigration custody, in Newark, New Jersey, June 21, 2025.
Angelina Katsanis/Reuters
According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, the organization representing Khalil, the Columbia graduate would use the money to “help others similarly targeted by the Trump administration and Columbia University.”
In a press release, the organization said: “He would accept, in lieu of payment, an official apology and abandonment of the administration’s unconstitutional policy.”
Khalil, 30, helped lead and negotiate on behalf of the pro-Palestinian encampments that spread at Columbia during the spring of 2024, amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Khalil, a green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE agents in his New York apartment building in March — the first high-profile pro-Palestinian activist to be detained by ICE during the administration of President Donald Trump, who had vowed to “crush” the campus protests, calling them hotbeds of antisemitism.
Khalil was transferred to an ICE facility in Louisiana, while the Trump administration pressed in court for his deportation.
The Trump administration said Khalil was detained for his purported support of Hamas — a claim his legal team has rejected and for which the administration provided no evidence.
In court proceedings earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio — citing a rarely used provision of the law — determined Khalil should be deported because his continued presence in the country would pose a risk to U.S. foreign policy.
An immigration judge in Louisiana initially found Khalil deportable, but a federal judge in New Jersey later issued an order barring the Trump administration from deporting or continuing to detain Khalil on that basis.
Khalil was released from custody on June 20, but the Trump administration is continuing to seek his deportation.
Protestors rally in support of Mahmoud Khalil outside of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse, during a hearing regarding Khalil’s arrest, in New York City, Mar. 12, 2025.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
Khalil’s complaint also accuses the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE of conducting a “retaliatory arrest” against Khalil over his constitutionally protected speech.
“Officials at the highest levels of the United States government publicly lashed out at Mr. Khalil on social media, falsely labeling him a terrorist sympathizer and an anti-semite — derogatory charges designed to destroy Mr. Khalil’s reputation, put him in physical danger and cause extreme emotional distress,” the complaint stated.
In a statement to ABC News, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the Trump administration acted within its legal and constitutional authority to detain Khalil.
“Mahmoud Khalil’s claim that DHS officials branded him as an antisemite and terrorized him and his family is absurd,” McLaughlin said in the statement. “It was Khalil who terrorized Jewish students on campus. He ‘branded’ himself as antisemite through his own hateful behavior and rhetoric. It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America.”
