Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil describes his arrest as a direct consequence of advocating for Palestine, calling himself a “political prisoner” in a letter from ICE detention.
Detained Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has said his arrest was “a direct consequence” of exercising his right to free speech in advocating for an end to “the genocide in Gaza.”
“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,” Khalil said in a letter, dated March 18, dictated over the phone from the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Louisiana where he is being held.
Must read: Mahmoud Khalil speaks out for the first time since his arrest by the Trump administration in an exclusive letter, dictated over the phone to his family, from ICE detention in Louisiana. pic.twitter.com/QeQQQfX2Zr
— The CCR is on bsky (@ccrjustice.org) (@theCCR) March 18, 2025
In his first direct communication since he was detained by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents on March 8, Khalil introduced himself as “a political prisoner.”
He explained that the agents who refused to provide a warrant, “accosted my wife and me” as they returned from dinner.
“Before I knew what was happening, agents handcuffed and forced me into an unmarked car,” Khalil said, adding that DHS “would not tell me anything for hours — I did not know the cause of my arrest or if I was facing immediate deportation.”
Being Palestinian ‘Transcends Borders’
Khalil, a green card holder married to a US citizen, was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. His family had been displaced from their land since the 1948 Nakba, he said.
“I spent my youth in proximity to yet distant from my homeland. But being Palestinian is an experience that transcends borders,” Khalil continued.
From a detention cell in Louisiana, Mahmoud Khalil writes: “I am a political prisoner.” His letter traces a system where protest is criminalized, and institutions like Columbia, DHS, and Congress work in tandem to silence dissent. https://t.co/EzqyuD71QZ #FreeMahmoudKhalil pic.twitter.com/n5L2LRW9Fm
— World BEYOND War (@WorldBeyondWar) March 19, 2025
“I see in my circumstances similarities to Israel’s use of administrative detention — imprisonment without trial or charge — to strip Palestinians of their rights,” he stated.
A recent graduate of Columbia University, Khalil served as a lead negotiator during the Gaza Solidarity Encampment last April.
His detention followed US President Donald Trump’s “executive orders prohibiting ant-Semitism,” DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement following his arrest. The statement claimed that he had “led activities aligned to Hamas.”
Trump’s Executive Orders
In a social media post, Trump defended Khalil’s arrest, saying it was “the first arrest of many to come.”
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” said Trump, vowing to “find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again.”
SHALOM, MAHMOUD.
"ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of @Columbia University. This is the first arrest of many to come." –President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/gfuPd0tskf
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 10, 2025
Further in his letter, Khalil said “I have always believed that my duty is not only to liberate myself from the oppressor, but also to liberate my oppressors from their hatred and fear.”
“My unjust detention is indicative of the anti-Palestinian racism that both the Biden and Trump administrations have demonstrated over the past 16 months as the U.S. has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention,” the activist continued.
He said that for decades, “anti-Palestinian racism has driven efforts to expand U.S. laws and practices that are used to violently repress Palestinians, Arab Americans, and other communities. That is precisely why I am being targeted.”
Columbia, Doxing Campaigns
Khalil pointed out that while he awaits legal decisions that hold the futures of his wife and child in the balance, “those who enabled my targeting remain comfortably at Columbia University.”
“Presidents Shafik, Armstrong, and DeanYarhi-Milo laid the groundwork for the U.S. government to target me by arbitrarily disciplining pro-Palestinian students and allowing viral doxing campaigns — based on racism and disinformation —to go unchecked,” he emphasized.
There is cancel culture in the US: on Palestine. Speak up. Get fired. Speak up. Get detained. Speak up. Get kicked out of school. Speak up. Get deported. Speak up. Get assaulted and harassed. And the mainstream doesn’t speak out on it. If they did, they’d be canceled too.
— Remi Kanazi (@Remroum) March 18, 2025
Khalil stressed that Columbia “targeted me for my activism, creating a new authoritarian disciplinary office to bypass due process and silence students criticizing Israel. Columbia surrendered to federal pressure by disclosing student records to Congress and yielding to the Trump administration’s latest threats.”
His arrest, he continued, as well as the expulsion or suspension of “at least 22 Columbia students — some stripped of their B.A. degrees just weeks before graduation — and the expulsion of SWC President Grant Miner on the eve of contract negotiations, are clear examples.”
“If anything, my detention is a testament to the strength of the student movement in shifting public opinion toward Palestinian liberation,” he continued.
Students ‘at Forefront’
Khalil noted that students have long been “at the forefront of change — leading the charge against the Vietnam War, standing on the frontlines of the civil rights movement, and driving the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Today, too, even if the public has yet to fully grasp it, it is students who steer us toward truth and justice.”
He said that the Trump administration was targeting him “as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent.”
“Visa-holders, green-card carriers, and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs. In the weeks ahead, students, advocates, and elected officials must unite to defend the right to protest for Palestine,” Khalil stated.
“At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all,” he added.
Following his arrest, Khalil was not allowed to see his legal counsel or his wife and until the morning of March 10, his whereabouts were unknown. The DHS agents had also reportedly threatened to arrest his wife at the time of his arrest.
Campaign for Release
He was “effectively disappeared by DHS,” US Congress members said in a petition, dated March 11, demanding his release.
The lawmakers, including Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, stated “We must be extremely clear: this is an attempt to criminalize political protest and is a direct assault on the freedom of speech of everyone in this country.”
Almost every organization and official worldwide has said his name but @Columbia University refuses. SAY HIS NAME. #FREEMAHMOUDKHALIL #FREEPALESTINE pic.twitter.com/mEcd8sBiD2
— Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition (CPSC) (@Columbia_psc) March 13, 2025
Last week, a federal court in Manhattan blocked the deportation of Khalil, ruling that he “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise.”
Ramzi Kassem, an attorney for Khalil, said outside the court, that Khalil “was taken by US government agents in retaliation, essentially, for exercising his First Amendment rights, for speaking up in defense of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond, for being critical of the US government and of the Israeli government.”
The Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition (CPSC) called Khalil’s detention “unlawful and unjust” and vowed to “not let Columbia get away with this.”
Scores of protesters have taken to the streets of New York demanding his release while an online petition was also launched for his immediate release.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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