{"id":1667,"date":"2025-07-10T22:36:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T22:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/10\/mahmoud-khalil-files-20m-claim-against-trump-for-wrongful-detention\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T22:36:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T22:36:27","slug":"mahmoud-khalil-files-20m-claim-against-trump-for-wrongful-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/10\/mahmoud-khalil-files-20m-claim-against-trump-for-wrongful-detention\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahmoud Khalil files $20m claim against Trump for wrongful detention"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mahmoud Khalil, a former student activist imprisoned for more than three months, has filed a wrongful detention claim against the administration of President Donald Trump, seeking $20m in damages.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s court filings allege that the Trump administration smeared his reputation, maliciously prosecuted Khalil and unlawfully imprisoned him.<\/p>\n

The claim names the United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of State as defendants.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Associated Press (AP), Khalil said he hopes his claim will show that the Trump administration cannot bully activists into silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are abusing their power because they think they are untouchable,\u201d Khalil said. \u201cUnless they feel there is some sort of accountability, it will continue to go unchecked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s claim is likely to be the precursor to a full-fledged lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act.<\/p>\n

Khalil, who served as a spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, said he plans to use any money he receives from his claim to help other activists whose speech Trump has attempted to suppress.<\/p>\n

He also told the AP he would accept an apology and a revision of the Trump administration\u2019s deportation policies. Khalil himself continues to face deportation proceedings as a result of his activism.<\/p>\n

What happened?<\/h2>\n

Born to Palestinian parents in Damascus, Syria, Khalil was a face for the Palestinian solidarity movement in the US after the start of Israel\u2019s war on Gaza in October 2023.<\/p>\n

United Nations experts and human rights groups have warned that Israel\u2019s tactics in Gaza are \u201cconsistent with genocide\u201d, and Columbia University became the epicentre for global, student-led protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m one of the lucky ones who are able to advocate for the rights of Palestinians, the folks who are getting killed back in Palestine,\u201d Khalil told Al Jazeera<\/a> in May 2024.<\/p>\n

But Trump campaigned for a second term on pledges to crack down on immigration to the US and stamp out the antiwar protests, which he described as anti-Semitic.<\/p>\n

Upon taking office in January, Trump issued executive<\/a> orders<\/a> setting the stage for the removal of foreign nationals deemed to have \u201chostile attitudes\u201d towards the US or who were accused of supporting \u201cthreats to our national security\u201d.<\/p>\n

One of the orders instructed federal authorities to take \u201cactions to remove such aliens\u201d from the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a> at the time. \u201cI will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khalil was the first major arrest in Trump\u2019s crackdown on the student protesters. Video shot by his pregnant wife, Noor Abdalla, on March 8 shows plain-clothed immigration officers handcuffing Khalil and leading him out of his university apartment complex in New York City.<\/p>\n

He was swiftly moved from New York to New Jersey and then to Louisiana, where he was held at the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena ahead of his planned deportation.<\/p>\n