After more than three months in detention, Mahmoud Khalil has filed an administrative complaint against the Trump administration seeking $20 million in damages.
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.
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.
