Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil files $20m claim against Trump administration
Updated: Jul 11th, 2025
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A Columbia University graduate student, Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested on charges of supporting the Palestinian cause during campus protests, is seeking damages from the US government.
His lawyers on Thursday filed a claim for $20m (₹170 crore) in damages alleging “false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and being smeared as an antisemite”, as per BBC.
According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, non-profit legal advocacy organisation supporting the Columbia graduate, “Khalil on July 10 filed a claim detailing the harm he has suffered as a result of his politically motivated arrest and detention.”
“He would accept, in lieu of payment, an official apology and abandonment of the administration’s unconstitutional policy.” they said.
Recently released after 104 days in detention, Khalil was the first person arrested by the Trump administration in its retaliatory crackdown on immigrants who have spoken out for Palestinian rights. The administration carried out its illegal plan to arrest, detain, and deport Khalil “in a manner calculated to terrorise him and his family”, the claim says.
His mistreatment has caused and continues to cause “severe emotional distress, economic hardship, damage to his reputation, and significant impairment of his First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights”. This is the first damages complaint brought by an individual targeted as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on noncitizens protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
During a pro-Palestine protest in New York City in March 2025, the Trump administration arrested Khalil on March 9 in his university dormitory by staff members from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Khalil, a permanent resident of the United States, was allegedly instrumental in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University that began in April 2024. Khalil’s wife, a US citizen who is eight months pregnant, also received threats from the ICE, according to Khalil’s attorney.
