Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University, submitted an updated petition and complaint on Thursday, naming President Donald Trump as a respondent as he challenges his impending deportation for participating in protests against the conflict in Gaza.
Khalil’s attorneys, representing him as a lawful permanent resident, described the Trump administration’s actions as “targeted, retaliatory detention and attempted removal of a student protestor due to his constitutionally protected speech,” as outlined in the filing.
Khalil was taken into custody by federal immigration authorities on Saturday in New York City. The Trump administration contends that he should be deported under a foreign-policy provision of immigration law. The documents reveal that Khalil completed his coursework at Columbia University in December 2024 and is anticipated to graduate in the spring.
On Thursday evening, Katrina Armstrong, Columbia’s interim president, reported that agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered two university residences. While no arrests or detentions were made, Armstrong noted in a message to the university that the agents presented Columbia with signed judicial search warrants — in accordance with university protocol — to legitimize their search.
“No items were removed, and no further actions were taken,” Armstrong stated in her message.
The revised complaint in Khalil’s case, lodged in federal District Court in Manhattan, outlines the 30-year-old’s movements and the statements allegedly made during his detention by immigration officials, which led to his transfer to Louisiana.
The lawsuit claims that while Khalil was detained in New York on Saturday night, he observed one agent tell another, “The White House is requesting an update.”
This case has sparked protests among free-speech advocates who argue that Khalil faces no criminal accusations; rather, he is being penalized for his involvement in lawful demonstrations against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
A federal judge temporarily halted Khalil’s deportation on Monday, stating that he will remain in the United States while the court assesses the legitimacy of his arrest and detention.
The amended lawsuit also cites Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who asserted on Wednesday that the case does not pertain to free speech.
“This is about individuals who do not have the right to be in the United States in the first place,” Rubio remarked. “No one is entitled to a student visa. No one has an inherent right to a green card.”
Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian heritage married to a U.S. citizen, has been a prominent figure in the protests at Columbia University against the Gaza war. His attorneys describe him as “a mediator, an active participant in, and at times the public face” of the demonstrations on the Manhattan campus.
The Department of Homeland Security claims that Khalil “led activities associated with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
The ongoing conflict in Gaza, which erupted following a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent military response, has sparked significant controversy on various U.S. college campuses, where some Republicans and others have decried the protests as antisemitic.
In February, the Justice Department unveiled what it called an antisemitism task force targeting college campuses, and on March 7, the Trump administration announced the cancellation of roughly $400 million in federal grants to Columbia.
The Department of Homeland Security has referred to an immigration law stipulation that empowers the secretary of state to order deportation if it is assessed that the individual “would have serious negative foreign policy implications for the United States.”
Khalil’s attorneys, in the complaint, request that a judge release him immediately, arguing that the administration’s actions aim to punish and suppress free speech, violating the First Amendment.
“Secretary Rubio based his decision on Mr. Khalil’s lawful activities protected by the First Amendment: his participation in protests and his comments regarding Palestine and Israel,” Khalil’s lawyers assert in the complaint.
“Neither Secretary Rubio nor any other government official has claimed that Mr. Khalil has committed any crime or violated any law,” they stated.
The American Civil Liberties Union, one of the organizations involved in this case, remarked on Thursday that Rubio attempts to pursue Khalil’s removal through a “vague and infrequently invoked clause of the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
“With today’s filing, we are making it abundantly clear that no president can arrest, detain, or deport anyone for expressing dissent against the government,” declared Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, in a statement.
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