#ColumbiaUniversity #protester #MahmoudKhalil files $20M claim against #Trump administration
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 3:47 PM EDT, July 10, 2025
NEW YORK (AP) — "On a recent afternoon, Mahmoud Khalil sat in his Manhattan apartment, cradling his 10-week-old son as he thought back to the pre-dawn 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 $20 million in damages against the Trump administration, alleging Khalil was #FalselyImprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an #antisemite as the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests.
"The filing — a precursor to a lawsuit under the #FederalTortClaimsAct — names the #DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the #USStateDepartment.
"It comes as the deportation case against Khalil, a 30-year-old recent graduate student at Columbia University, continues to wind its way through the immigration court system."
https://apnews.com/article/mahmoud-khalil-ice-release-trump-columbia-protests-570f7af32010c16b1a00dd7e78f4c687
