Latest news with #NoorAbdalla
South China Morning Post
10-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Mahmoud Khalil seeks US$20 million from Trump admin over ICE detention
On a recent afternoon, Mahmoud Khalil sat in his Manhattan apartment, cradling his 10-week-old son as he thought back to the predawn hours spent pacing a frigid immigration jail in Louisiana, awaiting news of the child's birth in New York. For a moment, the outspoken Palestinian activist found himself uncharacteristically speechless. 'I cannot describe the pain of that night,' Khalil said finally, gazing down as the baby, Deen, cooed in his arms. 'This is something I will never forgive.' Now, weeks after regaining his freedom, Khalil is seeking restitution. On Thursday, his lawyers filed a claim for US$20 million in damages against the Trump administration, alleging Khalil was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite as the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests. Mahmoud Khalil and his wife, Noor Abdalla, hold their baby during an interview in New York on July 3. Photo: AP The filing – a precursor to a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act – names the Department of Homeland Security, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the State Department.
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Mahmoud Khalil sparks outrage days after being released from ICE detention amid calls for him to be deported
Pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil has sparked fury by returning to the frontlines of a protest just two days after he was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. The Columbia University student, who was swept up in an ICE arrest on March 8 and threatened with deportation, vowed not to be silenced by the Trump administration, even as they continue to seek a legal avenue to expel him from the United States. Khalil arrived back in New York on Saturday, hours after a federal judge ruled his detention was unconstitutional and demanded he be freed to return home to his wife and newborn baby, who was born while he was incarcerated. The 30-year-old Palestinian, who was born in a Syrian refugee camp, wore a shirt which read 'Lift the siege on Gaza ' as he celebrated his temporary victory. He clutched his wife Noor Abdalla's hand and threw his arms up in victory as the crowd cheered, thanking his supporters, legal team and protestors who had the 'courage' to continue to protest in the face of ICE deportations. Khalil told the crowd Columbia 'would do anything and everything it can to ensure that the words ''free Palestine'' are not uttered anywhere near it. But while we are here, Free, Free Palestine.' He said that while the administration had tried to paint him as 'violent', he argued he is simply 'a Palestinian who refused to stay silent while watching a genocide.' He went on to say 'genocide... is being funded by the US government.' His comments have sparked mass backlash from pro-MAGA loyalists on social media, who questioned why he opted to return to a protest and throw his freedom back in the administration's face. Others questioned why he wasn't spending time with his newborn child, given he missed the birth while he was detained. 'He's not a citizen. Why is he being allowed to continue terrorizing American students?' one critic asked. 'Mahmoud Khalil 's green card should be revoked permanently. He doesn't belong in the US when his whole purpose is to stir up discontent and rage. No other country would put up with this behavior from a foreigner with a green card,' another wrote. 'Apparently spending quality time with his 3 mo old baby wasn't high on his priority list—inciting violence against Jewish people came first,' a third added. Speaking to the New York Times after his release, Khalil warned President Trump that the actions of his ICE agents had done little to deter him. 'I don't think what happened to me would stop me [from protesting],' he said. 'If anything, it's actually reinforced my belief that what we're doing is right.' Khalil compared his arrest to the actions of government agents in Syria who acted outside of the scope of the law, noting: 'That's literally what made me flee.' After arriving back in New York, Khalil had said: 'If they threaten me with detention, even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine. 'I just want to go back and continue the work I was already doing, advocating for Palestinian rights, a speech that should actually be celebrated rather than punished.' But Khalil made a name for himself when he arrived on Columbia's campus in 2023 as he tried to organize guest speakers to discuss the so called apartheid in Israel on campus and led the pro-Palestinian movement. By 2024, he was acting as a negotiator between the University and protestors who had set up an encampment on campus in solidarity with Palestinians suffering in Gaza. Despite securing a green card in November 2024, Khalil was arrested by plain clothes ICE agents on March 8 while returning home with his wife from dinner with friends. Agents initially said his student visa had been canceled, but when it was noted that Khalil did not need a student visa, Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed he had been identified as a foreign policy threat. Khalil was transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, and spent a total of 104 days incarcerated while a team of high powered lawyers worked tirelessly to secure his freedom. Now, authorities are challenging his release and seeking ways to secure his deportation. Assistant Homeland Security secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: 'This is yet another example of how out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security. 'Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts.'
The Guardian
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Mahmoud Khalil renews devotion to Palestinian freedom at New York rally
Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian rights activist, freed from Ice detention on Friday, returned to Columbia University on Sunday to renew his commitment to the cause of Palestinian freedom and opposition to both the university and the Trump administration. Khalil arrived back in New York on Saturday after being released from more than 100 days in detention in Louisiana by a federal judge who ruled that punishing someone over a civil immigration matter was unconstitutional and ordered his immediate release on bail. Just outside of Columbia's gates and reunited with wife Noor Abdalla, Khalil thanked his supporters, legal team and 'to salute the courage of all students at Columbia and across the nation who had continued to protest'. Khalil made clear that following his release from detention he would battle what he called the 'shameful trustees at Columbia that are currently attempting to expel 15 more students and to suspend tens of others, basically conceding their future, their degrees and labor because they are not afraid to stand for Palestine'. The university, he added, 'would do anything and everything it can to ensure that the words 'free Palestine' are not uttered anywhere near it. 'But while we are here, Free, Free Palestine.' The crowd followed in a chant. Khalil went on to accuse Columbia of attempting to prevent the rally at its gates 'just so we cannot remind them that they fund the killing in Gaza' and he described himself not as someone who is violent, as he claimed he has been portrayed, 'but as a human rights defender'. His address determines that Khalil, the most high-profile student to be targeted by the Trump administration for speaking out against Israel's war on Gaza, plans to sustain his criticism of the university for what activists consider Columbia's capitulation to Trump administration demands to curb antisemitic speech and threats against Jewish students on campus. 'If they threaten me with detention, even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine,' Khalil said after shortly after landing in New Jersey on Saturday. 'I just want to go back and continue the work I was already doing, advocating for Palestinian rights, a speech that should actually be celebrated rather than punished.' Khalil was sent to Jena, Louisiana, shortly after being seized by plainclothes US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents in the lobby of his university residence in front of his heavily pregnant wife, who is a US citizen, in early March. The 30-year-old, who has not been charged with a crime, was forced to miss the birth of his first child, Deen, by the Trump administration. Khalil had been permitted to see his wife and son briefly – and only once – earlier in June. The American green card holder was held by Ice for 104 days. Khalil was ordered to surrender his passport and green card to Ice officials in Jena, Louisiana, as part of his conditional release. The order also limits Khalil's travel to a handful of US states, including New York and Michigan to visit family, for court hearings in Louisiana and New Jersey, and for lobbying in Washington DC. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Bronx Democrat, said Khalil's ordeal was 'not over, and we will have to continue to support this case. The persecution based on political speech is wrong, and it is a violation of all of our first amendment rights, not just Mahmoud's.' The Trump administration has said it will appeal the order to release Khalil. 'This is yet another example of how out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security,' Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant homeland security secretary, said in a statement. 'Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts.' The Trump administration claims it had the authority to detain and deport Khalil, arguing that his presence in the US is a threat to national security. A second charge alleges that he omitted details about his work history and membership in organizations on his green card application. Nina Lakhani contributed reporting
Malay Mail
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
‘Even if they kill me': Freed Columbia protest leader Mahmoud Khalil vows to keep speaking out for Palestine
NEWARK, June 22 — Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent leaders of US pro-Palestinian campus protests, pledged yesterday to keep campaigning after he was released from a federal detention centre. 'Even if they would kill me, I would still speak for Palestine,' Khalil said as he was greeted by cheering supporters at Newark airport, just outside New York City. Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, had been in custody since March facing potential deportation. He was freed from a federal immigration detention centre in Louisiana on Friday, hours after a judge ordered his release on bail. The Columbia University graduate was a figurehead of student protests against US ally Israel's war in Gaza, and the Trump administration labelled him a national security threat. 'Just the fact I am here sends a message — the fact that all these attempts to suppress pro-Palestine voices have failed now,' said Khalil, who is still fighting his potential expulsion from the United States. He spoke alongside his wife Noor Abdalla, who gave birth to the couple's first child while Khalil was in detention, as well as Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 'Mahmoud Khalil was imprisoned for 104 days by this administration, by the Trump administration, with no grounds and for political reasons, because Mahmoud Khalil is an advocate for Palestinian human rights,' Ocasio-Cortez said. 'This is not over, and we will have to continue to support this case,' she added. Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, is not allowed to leave the United States except for 'self-deportation' under the terms of his release. He also faces restrictions on where he can travel within the country. President Donald Trump's government has justified pushing for Khalil's deportation by saying his continued presence in the United States could carry 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.' Beyond his legal case, Khalil's team fears he could face threats out of detention. 'We are very mindful about his security, and the irony is that he is the one being persecuted,' Baher Azmy, one of his lawyers, told AFP. 'But he is committed to peace and because he is rejecting US government policy he is under threat,' Azmy added, without elaborating on any security measures in place for Khalil and his family. — AFP
Deccan Herald
22-06-2025
- Sport
- Deccan Herald
June 22, 2025: Best photos from around the world
Iraqi people gather during a rally to show solidarity with Iran, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in the Shi'ite district of Kadhimiya, Baghdad, Iraq, June 21, 2025. Credit: Reuters Photo Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and his wife Dr. Noor Abdalla react at Newark airport, a day after being released from immigration custody, in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., June 21, 2025. Players (Gilgit-Baltistan in Blue and Chitral Laspur in Red) fight for the ball during the annual Shandur Polo Festival, at Shandur Pass, at an estimated altitude of around 3700 meters, in Chitral, Pakistan June 20, 2025. Credit: Reuters Photo Urawa Red Diamonds fans inside the stadium before their match against Inter Milan, U.S., June 21, 2025. Credit: Reuters Photo
