Mahmoud Khalil says he’s a ‘political prisoner’ in 1st statement since arrest

Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by U.S. immigration authorities 11 days ago, is speaking out from a detention centre in Jena, Louisiana for the first time since his arrest.

In a statement to the Guardian, Khalil said he was “a political prisoner … bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law.”

In his remarks, which you can read in full, Khalil accused the Trump administration of targeting him “as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent,” adding that “visa-holders, green-card carriers and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs.”

Khalil, who is a permanent U.S. resident and married to Noor Abdalla, an American citizen, was detained in New York on March 8 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the role he played in last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests on the grounds of Columbia University.

Khalil says the agents who arrested him “refused to provide a warrant” before threatening deportation and to revoke his green card.

“At that moment, my only concern was for Noor’s safety,” he said. “I had no idea if she would be taken too, since the agents had threatened to arrest her for not leaving my side.”

Following his arrest, Khalil was transferred to a holding facility in New Jersey before being flown to Louisiana, where he remains.

On Tuesday, from his cell, Khalil detailed his experiences in detention and queried the fundamentals of U.S. law.

“Who has the right to have rights?” he asked. “It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here. It isn’t the Senegalese man I met who has been deprived of his liberty for a year, his legal situation in limbo and his family an ocean away. It isn’t the 21-year-old detainee I met, who stepped foot in this country at age nine, only to be deported without so much as a hearing,” he continued.

“Justice escapes the contours of this nation’s immigration facilities,” Khalil added.

He went on to condemn American foreign policy, Columbia University’s cowering to federal pressure to reprimand student protesters and Israel’s recent breaking of a fragile ceasefire.

“My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night,” he said, adding that it is “our moral imperative to persist in the struggle for their complete freedom.”

In the days following Khalil’s detainment, calls for his release grew. Hundreds of protesters gathered in New York City demanding his freedom.

On March 10, efforts to deport Khalil were blocked by federal Judge Jesse Furman, who requested lawyers for both parties put forward further arguments.

On Friday, legal representatives for the government requested that Khalil’s case be dismissed or transferred to Louisiana.

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On Wednesday, Furman rejected government lawyers’ requests to move his case to Louisiana and ordered Khalil to remain in the United States for now.

Furman moved Khalil’s case from New York to New Jersey, arguing that he did not have jurisdiction to oversee it because Khalil was being held in New Jersey when his lawyers first disputed his arrest over his involvement in last year’s demonstrations.

Khalil did not participate in the encampments at the university over fears of losing his student visa, but he frequently spoke to the press and was tasked with upholding the interests of student activists during discussions with the university regarding conditions to end the protests.

During this time, he maintained a commitment to preserving both the interests of Jewish people and Palestinians.

Following an uptick of antisemitism on campus, Khalil told CNN last spring, “I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand and you cannot achieve one without the other.”

A year on, Khalil’s detainment marks the first in a nationwide hunt for university students who participate in demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas conflict, which have been further complicated by government pressure on educational institutions to stifle student activism.

In a recent Truth Social post, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to those who align themselves with the Palestinian cause as “terrorist sympathizers,” declaring that they no longer had the right to remain in the U.S., adding that his administration would “find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”

Meanwhile, the government is slashing funding to American universities who do not strip back their diversity, equity and inclusion programming.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education released a list of 45 universities under investigation for their “use of racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities.”

On Wednesday, the Trump administration paused $175 million in government grants to the University of Pennsylvania over its policy regarding the participation of transgender athletes.

Similarly, on Friday, Johns Hopkins University announced thousands of layoffs across 44 countries and the winding down of its USAID grant-related activities in Baltimore and internationally after it lost $800 million in public health funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

— With files from Reuters