After more than three months in an ICE detention camp in Louisiana, Mahmoud Khalil was finally released on June 20. Mahmoud is a recent Columbia University graduate who is being targeted by the Trump fascist regime for his prominent role in the student protests against Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza and the university’s complicity. 

Speaking just after he walked out of the ICE prison, Mahmoud said, “Justice prevailed, but it’s long, very long, overdue." He said that he was leaving behind over 1,000 men he was imprisoned with, who “shouldn’t have been there in the first place. The Trump administration are trying their best to dehumanize everyone here.” Asked if he had any message for the Trump administration, Mahmoud said, “They chose the wrong person for this. That doesn’t mean that there is a ‘right person’ for this. There’s no right person who should be detained for actually protesting a genocide, for protesting their university, Columbia University, that is investing in the genocide of the Palestinian people."

Mahmoud Khalil’s release from detention is a big defeat for the Trump fascist regime, and a victory for the people. This follows the release from ICE detention of other students unjustly targeted for speaking out for the Palestinian people. The fight continues—Mahmoud and other students still face the threat of deportation. And White House officials said they are appealing Mahmoud’s release. But for now, Mahmoud Khalil is able to go back to his home in New York and wage the fight alongside his family, legal team, and supporters.

Kidnapped and Persecuted for Standing Against Genocide

Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card holder, was arrested on March 8 in front of his New York City home by federal agents who refused to identify themselves and forcibly separated him from his wife, Noor Abdalla, who was then eight-months pregnant. Mahmoud is a Palestinian who grew up in Syria and migrated to the U.S. Within 24 hours of his arrest, he was taken to one detention center after another and then flown to an ICE detention camp 1,400 miles away in Louisiana, cut off from his lawyers and family. The government moved to deport Mahmoud Khalil and strip him of his permanent residency status.

On June 11, a federal judge in New Jersey, Michael Farbiarz, ruled that the government could not continue to hold Mahmoud Khalil based on the Immigration and Nationality Act. Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio had invoked that law after Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest to claim the authority to deport noncitizens (including those with permanent residency and other types of legal status, like Mahmoud) from the U.S. if their presence “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” or “compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” The supposed basis for making this determination? Their “past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations that are otherwise lawful.”

Mahmoud Khalil has not been charged with any crime. Rubio accused Mahmoud of involvement in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which foster a hostile environment for Jewish students in the U.S.” The Trump regime claims that his continued presence in the U.S. supposedly harm “core American interests” and foreign policy objectives. 

The charge of “antisemitism” is an outright lie: Opposing genocide, Israel, or Zionism is NOT anti-Semitism—the hatred of or prejudice against Jews as a people. And Mahmoud has consistently and publicly spoken out against anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry. But Rubio was telling the truth about one thing: “disruptive” protests have hit at a key American “foreign policy interest”—supporting Israel, including its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, as a key military bastion for U.S. imperialist interests. Mahmoud Khalil is being threatened by the Trump fascist regime with deportation from the U.S. for the “crime” of having spoken out and protested against U.S. policies—for exercising rights that are supposed to be guaranteed under the Constitution.

During his three months in the ICE prison, Mahmoud missed being present at the birth of his son, Deen, and his graduation from Columbia University. But he has remained outspoken in the face of this repression. In a letter from prison addressed to Deen, which he released to the public, Mahmoud said, “One day, you might ask why people are punished for standing up for Palestine, why truth and compassion feel dangerous to power. These are hard questions, but I hope our story shows you this: the world needs more courage, not less. It needs people who choose justice over convenience.” (See the reading of this letter by Mark Ruffalo, Mahershala Ali, Tom Morello and other prominent people.)

In his June 11 ruling, Judge Farbiarz said that the government’s use of the Immigration and Nationality Act as justification for indicting Mahmoud Khalil would likely be found unconstitutional, and therefore they could no longer detain him under that reasoning. The Trump regime lawyers then came back with a new phony justification for keeping Mahmoud Khalil behind bars: they alleged that Mahmoud left out several facts on his green card application about his work history and involvement with certain organizations before coming to the U.S., including a United Nations agency that aids Palestinian refugees. One of Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyers said that this added justification was "completely bogus and completely retaliatory for his First Amendment activity, speaking out on what’s going on in Gaza.” 

Mahmoud and his legal team submitted new filings to the court asking for Mahmoud to be released. On June 20, Judge Farbiarz ruled that Mahmoud Khalil should be released on bail pending results of the deportation case.

Stop the Fascist Deportation of Mahmoud!

The Trump regime’s arrest of Mahmoud and relentless drive to deport him have been part of their attempts to rapidly hammer into place a radically different “legal” system—one which “openly and aggressively strips away basic rights and blatantly declares that there is no rule of law and due process of law other than what it dictates,” as revolutionary leader Bob Avakian put it.

Since Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest, hundreds of other students, recent graduates, and others affiliated with universities have had their visas revoked or immigration status changed. And Trump/MAGA fascism overall has gone to a whole new level with ramped-up ICE raids and clampdown in Los Angeles and the larger nationwide assault against immigrants and the rule of law. If the Trump regime is allowed to get away with deporting Mahmoud, it will further open the floodgates for more detentions and deportations, possibly including U.S. citizens. This must be opposed and stopped.