Columbia graduate and pro-Palestian activist Mahmoud Khalil returned to New York City on Saturday afternoon, less than a day after a federal judge ordered him to be released on bail from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana.
Khalil, 30, has been a leader of pro-Palestinian protests on the Columbia University campus. Speaking to a group of reporters and supporters at Newark International Airport, he said he will continue to advocate for Palestinian rights and the immigrants left behind in the detention facility, no matter what his circumstances.
“I will continue to protest with every one of you, not only if they threaten me with detention, even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine,” he said.
Khalil was the first of several pro-Palestinian activists targeted for deportation by the Trump administration. Federal officials justified his detention by using an obscure and rarely used provision of immigration law that allows the federal government to deport people who threaten the country's foreign policy interests — in this case the Trump administration's efforts to combat antisemitism.
Khalil is a former green card holder born to Palestinian refugees in Syria and has not been charged with a crime. He missed witnessing the birth of his first-born son while in detention.
The Department of Homeland Security wrote in a statement on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter, that a district judge doesn’t have the authority to order him released – only an immigration judge does.
“On the same day an immigration judge denied Khalil bond and ordered him removed, one rogue district judge ordered him released. This is yet another example of how out-of-control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security, the Department of Homeland Security wrote on X.
He said the fact that federal authorities put him in a detention center didn’t mean he was not free, noting that he had continued his advocacy work in detention.
“Whether you are a citizen, an immigrant, anyone on this land, you’re not illegal. That doesn't make you less of a human, and this is what the administration is trying to do – to dehumanize me, to dehumanize the immigrants, to dehumanize anyone who actually does not agree with the administration,” he said.
Khalil was joined by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Osasio-Cortez, who welcomed him back to the city and reminded New Yorkers that the fight was not over.
“We wish for Mahmoud and his family to be able to enjoy some peace after an incredibly difficult 104 days, but we also have a path ahead of us,” Osasio-Cortez said. “This is not over and we will have to continue to support this case.”
Osasio-Cortez claimed Khalil was imprisoned because the Trump administration did not agree with his political speech, which she said is a violation of the law.
“It is a violation of his first amendment rights. It is an affront to every American, and we will not allow and we will continue to resist the politicization and the continued political persecution that ICE is engaged in.
Khalil was a leader of pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia University’s campus and was the first of such activists targeted by the Trump administration. He was held at a Louisiana detention center for more than three months, during which he missed the birth of his first-born son.
