Palestinian Student Jailed 104 Days, Missed Son’s Birth

Mahmoud Khalil was finishing a master’s degree at Columbia University when plain-clothed officers from the Department of Homeland Security took him from his home in New York in March 2025 [1]. They sent him to an immigration detention centre, then moved him to another facility in Louisiana, more than 1,000 miles away [1].

Khalil holds a green card, which gives him permanent US residency [1]. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio decided that Khalil remaining in the country would have “adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States” [1]. The government sought to deport him under a legal provision that dates back to the McCarthy era [1].

A federal judge ruled his detention unconstitutional, and Khalil was released on bail in June 2024 [1]. The Trump administration is still trying to remove him [1].

Khalil was born to Palestinian parents in a refugee camp in Syria [1]. He was targeted because he spoke up for pro-Palestinian protesters during campus demonstrations over Columbia University’s ties to Israel [1]. The protesters wanted Columbia to cut links with Israeli academic institutions and with companies profiting from Israel’s assault on Gaza [1]. The university called in the New York Police Department in response [1].

There was no suggestion that Khalil had done anything unlawful, and no criminal charges were brought against him [1]. The government had simply identified him as an influential pro-Palestinian voice on campus, and for that reason alone wanted him gone [1].

He spent a total of 104 days in detention [1]. He missed the birth of his son [1].