Columbia anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil adds Trump, Rubio to lawsuit demanding release, alleges his constitutional rights violated
Anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil added President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to a lawsuit demanding his release Thursday night, arguing that Trump administration officials have violated his constitutional rights and are engaging in a “hostile campaign” against pro-Palestinian advocates.
The amended petition accuses Trump, Rubio and other administration officials of “targeted” and “retaliatory detention” to “prevent” the Columbia University graduate from espousing his views and to “chill other individuals from expressing views sympathetic to Palestinians.”
“Over the last year and a half, Mr. Khalil has been a mediator, an active participant in, and at times the public face of, student protests on Columbia’s campus related to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza,” reads the 33-page petition filed in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, where Khalil seeks to have his lawsuit heard.
“The Trump administration has made no secret of its opposition to those protests and has repeatedly threatened to weaponize immigration law to punish noncitizens who have participated,” it continues.
Lawyers for Khalil argue that the grounds the Trump administration seeks to deport under “have been rarely invoked” and are typically “reserved for cases involving high-ranking government officials or an alleged terrorist removable on other grounds and subject to high-profile prosecutions in their country of origin.”
“It does not appear to have ever been applied to any person for engaging in First Amendment protected speech,” the filing states.
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