A Palestinian refugee says he’s being held as a “political prisoner” in Louisiana by U.S. immigration agents retaliating against him for speaking out last year against Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
Mahmoud Khalil’s detention by ICE agents supervised by the White House has drawn widespread condemnation from civil rights and legal advocacy groups. Khalil, 30, helped lead student protests at Columbia University in New York City last spring and summer as students demanded divestment from Israel.
Khalil had a green card granting him permanent residency in the United States, and his pregnant wife is a citizen. Federal officials have so far refused to release specific evidence against Khalil, other than to argue his support from Hamas crossed the line from advocacy.
“My unjust detention is indicative of the anti-Palestinian racism that both the Biden and Trump administrations have demonstrated over the past 16 months as the U.S. has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention,” Khalil said in a statement dictated to his attorneys. “The Trump administration is targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent. Visa holders, green card carriers, and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs.”
Khalil also criticized university leaders, and said he’s confident student protesters are on the right side of history. His detention has sparked a new wave of protests, including in New York and Boston.
Khalil’s attorneys are asking a federal judge to force the government to provide evidence for why his green card was revoked. Video of his March 8 arrest outside his Columbia University student apartment showed plainclothes ICE agents detaining him while refusing to provide a warrant or other legal paperwork.
Free-speech advocates worry the Trump administration is targeting people for their political beliefs, not for breaking any laws or official policy.
“It simply cannot be the case that you can disappear at night off the streets of New York City simply because the current U.S. government, the current administration, the White House, dislikes what you have to say,” Khalil’s attorney, Ramzi Kassem, said last week after a court hearing. “That is not just un-American, it’s also unacceptable.”
