Freed Mahmoud Khalil seeks $20 million in damages from Trump admin
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Mahmoud Khalil at a press conference in New York on June 22. Photo: Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images
Columbia University alumnus Mahmoud Khalil filed a claim against the Trump administration on Thursday, seeking $20 million in damages for the harm caused by what his lawyers call a politically-motivated arrest and detention.
The big picture: The legal U.S. resident was released from federal immigration detention last month after being held more than 100 days without being charged with a crime.
- The Trump administration sought to deport Khalil, a leader in Columbia University's pro-Palestinian protests, arguing his presence could pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.
- The administration's tug-of-war with courts over Khalil became a symbol of the historic test of immigrants' speech rights, particularly concerning pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S.
Driving the news: Khalil's attorneys accused the government of subjecting him to false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress, per the claim filed Thursday.
- "These harms are the result of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's ad hoc and conclusory determination" that Khalil's presence in the U.S. poses a foreign policy threat, the attorneys said.
- Khalil is seeking the $20 million in damages to help others "similarly targeted by the Trump administration and Columbia University," per his attorneys.
- "He would accept, in lieu of payment, an official apology and abandonment of the administration's unconstitutional policy," they said.
Zoom in: While detained by immigration authorities, Khalil was denied temporary release to be present for the birth of his son.
- Khalil's wife, Noor Abdalla, called it the "calculated cruelty of a government that tears families apart without remorse."
What they're saying: Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in an emailed statement called Khalil's claim that DHS officials branded him as an antisemite and terrorized him "absurd."
- McLaughlin alleged, "It was Khalil who terrorized Jewish students on campus," and that "he 'branded' himself as antisemite through his own hateful behavior and rhetoric."
- The Trump administration, she added "acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property."
Go deeper: Mahmoud Khalil ordered released on bail
