Columbia student protester demands outrageous payday after being detained as Trump admin hits back

A former graduate student at Columbia University has announced plans to sue the Trump Administration for $20 million after he was detained b...

A former graduate student at Columbia University has announced plans to sue the Trump Administration for $20 million after he was detained by ICE for more than 100 days.

Mahmoud Khalil brought the claim Thursday through the Federal Tort Claims Act, a 1946 law that allows citizens to sue the federal government and its employees for official wrongdoing.

Named in the Khalil's letter was President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Both men, along with officials from Homeland Security, 'boastfully proclaimed their intentional targeting of Mr. Khali for deportation, describing Mr. Khalil’s arrest as the first step in a broader campaign to deport campus protesters,' according to the letter from Khalil's lawyers.

Khalil's attorneys also took issue with how ICE agents showed up at his university-owned apartment on March 8 and arrested him in front of his then-pregnant wife, who is a US citizen.

They described it as a kidnapping, before blasting the administration for keeping him in Louisiana ICE facility, far away from his wife and family. 

Khalil was involved in pro-Palestine protests last year on Columbia's campus in Manhattan, often serving as a conduit between university administrators and the students who had set up encampments to rail against Israel's war in Gaza.

'There must be accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power,' Khalil said in a statement.

The $20 million Khalil seeks from the government is for personal injury. His lawyers argue that his detention was illegal and say that he was subjected to cold temperatures and sleep deprivation due to the lights always being on.

The letter also mentions that he lost 15 pounds due to the poor quality food. Other harms listed were the fact that he missed his Columbia graduation and the birth of his son.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said the lawsuit was absurd and that the government was well within its authority to detain Khalil.

On June 13, a federal judge allowed the government to continue to hold Khalil on the basis that he allegedly lied on his green card application.

Before that, Justice Department lawyers' main rationale for detaining him was based on an infrequently-cited law that gives the sitting secretary of state the power to deport any illegal immigrant who presents 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.'

The current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, invoked this law after Khalil's arrest in March, arguing that his continued presence in the country would undermine America's ability to combat anti-Semitism and its 'efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.'

On June 21, District Judge Michael Farbiarz authorized the release of Khalil because he deemed him not to be a threat to the community or a flight risk.

Khalil arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport that day to the fanfare of hundreds, including New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

'If they threaten me with detention, even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine,' he said while AOC stood next to him.

Representatives for Khalil have said that that he would accept an official apology from the government in lieu of payment.

Khalil will also not ask for the $20 million if the Trump administration ceases going after students for pro-Palestinian speech.

As a matter of policy, Trump has been making demands of prestigious higher education institutions like Harvard University, ordering them to dismantle their DEI initiatives and affirmative action programs. 

A representative for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which submitted the claim on Khalil's behalf, told The Wall Street Journal it is required to wait six months to file the actual lawsuit so agencies have time to conduct their own investigation prior to trial.

Read more