Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia College activist who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for greater than three months, spoke with ABC Information Reside Prime anchor Linsey Davis about his time in custody and vowed to proceed his proper for Palestinian human rights within the first broadcast interview since his launch on Friday.
Khalil, a inexperienced card holder who nonetheless faces the specter of deportation beneath the Trump administration, informed Davis in an interview that aired on ABC Information Reside’s Prime on Monday that regardless of the lingering menace of renewed detention, he stays undeterred.
“Not any menace would deter me as a result of nobody ought to keep silent when persons are getting killed. Nobody,” mentioned Khalil, who in 2023-2024 helped lead a collection of Columbia University protests towards the Israeli army marketing campaign in Gaza.
Khalil, 30, was a graduate scholar at Columbia in the course of the pro-Palestinian motion that erupted on school campuses throughout the U.S. — one which President Donald Trump vowed to “crush” throughout his 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
President Donald Trump, throughout his 2024 presidential marketing campaign, vowed to “crush” the protests as a result of he claimed they had been a hotbed of antisemitism.
“If you happen to had been to sit down down and have a dialog with President Trump, what would you say?” Davis requested Khalil.
“My foremost message is that [President Trump] vowed that he would set the Palestinian motion on this nation 20 years again throughout his marketing campaign. However what he did to me really superior the reason for Palestinian liberation for a few years,” Khalil mentioned.
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia College pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by ICE for greater than three months, spoke with ABC Information Reside Prime anchor Linsey Davis within the first on-camera interview since his launch.
ABC Information
Trump final yr reportedly informed donors at a closed-door assembly throughout his marketing campaign that he would crush the faculty protests.
The motion was sparked by the Israel-Hamas struggle that started on Oct. 7, 2023, with Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, the place not less than 1,200 had been killed and 251 had been taken hostage. Fifty hostages nonetheless stay in Hamas captivity, and an extra 27 believed to be lifeless, in line with Israeli officers.
The struggle has taken a extreme toll on the Palestinian inhabitants in Gaza, with 55,104 individuals killed, in line with the Hamas-run Gaza Well being Ministry.
“We didn’t ask that Palestinians ought to obtain particular therapy,” Khalil mentioned concerning the calls for of the student-led motion. “We actually mentioned we solely need justice and equality.’
Who’s Mahmoud Khalil?
Khalil, who was detained on March 8 in his New York house constructing, was the primary high-profile pro-Palestinian activist to be detained by ICE beneath the Trump administration. That was adopted by the arrest of a number of different scholar activists.
“I felt like I used to be actually kidnapped,” Khalil recalled. “All of the ‘know your rights’ that I’ve indulged myself into felt like nothing, as a result of at that second ICE made it clear that you don’t have any rights in any respect.”
The grandson of Palestinian refugees, Khalil was born and raised in a small refugee camp in southern Damascus. He grew to become a refugee once more in Lebanon in the course of the Syrian civil struggle and later moved to Algeria, the place he has citizenship. Khalil mentioned that he was first accepted into Columbia College in 2020 however needed to defer till 2022 as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
He’s married to Dr. Noor Abdalla, an American citizen, who gave start on April 21 to the couple’s first little one, a boy named Deen. Khalil’s request to be current for his son’s start was denied and he didn’t meet him till Might 22 whereas in custody.
He mentioned that lacking his son’s start was essentially the most troublesome a part of his detention.
“What did that imply that you just had been denied that?” Davis requested.
“That is essentially the most merciless factor that any administration would do,” Khalil mentioned.
Requested what his first night time together with his son was like after his launch, Khalil mentioned that he “could not sleep.”
“[I was] simply him, being with him,” he mentioned. “I’d be alert to any form of expression that Deen would make as a result of the second that was stripped of me, of witnessing his start, actually impacted me on so many ranges.”
Why was he detained?
In detaining Khalil — a authorized U.S. resident — the Trump administration argued that his continued presence within the nation would pose a threat to U.S. international coverage.
“The White Home has mentioned that you just distributed pro-Hamas fliers. Secretary Rubio mentioned that you just created an setting of harassment towards Jewish college students. President Trump mentioned we received to get him the hell out of our nation. Why do you suppose that you’re perceived as such a menace?” Davis requested Khalil.
“As a result of I signify a motion that goes towards what this administration is making an attempt to do,” Khalil responded. “They attempt to painting me as a violent individual. They attempt to painting me as a terrorist, as some lunatic, however not presenting any proof, not presenting any shred of credibility to their claims.”
When speaking concerning the Palestinian motion, Khalil mentioned there may be “no place” for antisemitism or “any type of racism.”
“There isn’t any place for any type of racism, together with anti-Blackness, antisemitism within the Palestine motion, and the Jewish college students and folks normally in the USA are an integral a part of the Palestinian motion,” he mentioned.
Columbia College graduate scholar Mahmoud Khalil speaks to the press subsequent to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport, a day after being launched from immigration custody, in Newark, New Jersey, June 21, 2025.
Angelina Katsanis/Reuters
U.S. District Choose Michael Farbiarz issued a preliminary injunction on June 11 barring the Trump administration from persevering with to detain him based mostly on the assertion that he is a menace to nationwide safety. However Khalil was detained for an extra week till his launch on Friday after the federal government argued for his continued detention based mostly on their allegation that he misrepresented info on his inexperienced card utility.
“The Trump administration has mentioned that you just made omissions in your inexperienced card and misrepresented your self. Is there any fact to that?” Davis requested.
“Completely not,” Khalil mentioned. “They added these allegations per week after my arrest as a result of they knew that their first allegation can also be flawed.”
What comes subsequent
Khalil was released on Friday from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Jena, Louisiana, after Choose Farbiarz issued an order granting his launch on bail. The decide mentioned the federal government made no try to show that Khalil’s launch would irreparably hurt them in a roundabout way or that Khalil represented a flight threat.
“What all that proof provides as much as is an absence of violence, an absence of property destruction, an absence of something that is perhaps characterised as incitement to violence,” Farbiarz mentioned of Khalil.
The decide mentioned that the circumstances of Khalil’s launch shall not embody digital monitoring or a requirement {that a} bond be instantly posted.
The ruling to launch Khalil got here on the identical time an immigration decide in Jena, Louisiana, denied Khalil’s request for asylum and ordered him to stay detained — however Farbiarz’ order outdated that ruling.
The Division of Homeland Safety sharply criticized the decide’s resolution to launch Khalil, saying in a press release on Friday that the ruling is “yet one more instance of how out-of-control members of the judicial department are undermining nationwide safety,” and arguing “an immigration decide, not a district decide, has the authority to resolve if Mr. Khalil ought to be launched or detained.”
“Their conduct not solely denies the results of the 2024 election, it additionally does nice hurt to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence within the courts,” the assertion mentioned.
As his case strikes ahead, Khalil mentioned that he’s “very involved” about his and household’s security and mentioned he is aware of that he might be detained once more if the Trump administration’s enchantment prevails in federal court docket.
Reflecting on “a really lengthy struggle forward,” he mentioned that the administration’s threats won’t cease him from talking out.
“[The Trump administration] need to make me an instance in order that nobody would dare to talk about Palestine,” Khalil mentioned. “However it could not cease me from persevering with to advocate for what’s proper.”
ABC Information’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
