Former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil has filed a $20 million complaint against the Trump administration for detaining him in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center while seeking his deportation.
ICE detained Khalil in March and sought his deportation for leading extreme anti-Israel protests on the Columbia University campus that expressed pro-Hamas views. The detention persisted for three months until a federal judge ordered his release.
“In Newark, N.J., U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said that prosecutors didn’t provide a legitimate justification for 104 days of detention since March 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” UPI reported in June.
“Farbiarz, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said it was ‘highly, highly unusual’ the government still wanted him detained,” added UPI.
Khalil has now filed an administrative complaint against the Trump administration seeking $20 million in damages, per ABC News:
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’s complaint also accuses the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and ICE of conducting a “retaliatory arrest” against his free 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 said.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the Trump administration acted within its constitutional authority when detaining 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.”
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