It is one of the ironies in the story of this 31-year-old: the persecution of a previously anonymous Palestinian student has ended up turning him into a celebrity. Khalil, one of the most visible faces of the protests<\/a> against the Israeli massacre in Gaza that rocked U.S. universities in the spring of 2024, now rubs shoulders with politicians such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and is in demand at numerous events.<\/p>\n After serving as a negotiator for pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University, he was detained without charges by federal authorities in an immigration detention center. He spent 104 days there. As if that were not enough, Khalil \u2014 who holds permanent resident status and is married to a U.S. citizen \u2014 is now subject to a deportation order issued by an immigration court under the Department of Justice. He does not know when or how it will be carried out. <\/p>\n He receives visitors on the rooftop of a building in Brooklyn. During an hour-long interview, he insists that what happened to him is merely an example of the United States\u2019 authoritarian drift. And in this struggle, he says, Palestinians are simply the canary in the coal mine: a warning that worse is yet to come.<\/p>\n \u201cMy case was only the start of everything. After that came mass deportations, attacks on journalists, attacks on universities… The White House made it clear by saying my detention would set a precedent. Now everything is much clearer.\u201d<\/p>\n 1. Deportation<\/p>\n In a case riddled with irregularities like his, the deportation process is no exception. The government is seeking to fast-track his removal before a hearing that the Supreme Court must hold. \u201cIt\u2019s an insane turnaround, particularly for such a high-profile case on a novel legal issue,\u201d Homero L\u00f3pez, a former member of the Board of Immigration Appeals, the body responsible for the decision, told The New York Times.<\/a><\/p>\n The Department of Justice did not respond to this newspaper\u2019s questions about the case. But members of the Trump administration have in recent months offered various arguments to justify Khalil\u2019s deportation<\/a>: from alleged antisemitism to errors in the information he provided when applying for a visa in 2024. He denies both accusations. He admits antisemitism is a real problem and that, sadly, it is rising in the United States and around the world. \u201cBut it\u2019s rising because of the actions of Israel, a country that is using Judaism as a shield against any criticism. And because this administration is siding with far-right politicians, at home and abroad,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Khalil does not want to think about what he will do if he is deported. For now, he is focused on fighting to win the case. \u201cI want to do it, first, to stay with my family. But also to show that we will not be intimidated. And that it is illegal to attack freedom of expression,\u201d says Khalil, who will publish his memoirs, No Land To Stand On, in September.<\/p>\n Khalil\u2019s name began to circulate when the wave of outrage against the Israeli government reached Columbia University<\/a>. There the young Palestinian \u2014 who was born in Syria but holds Algerian citizenship \u2014 was studying at the School of International and Public Affairs. \u201cThe repression was tremendous. Hundreds of students were expelled or suspended. The FBI raided homes. Columbia cooperated with the government to suppress freedom. I don\u2019t think, in its recent history, the United States has inflicted such a degree of violence upon its own people,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n But in his case, the worst was yet to come.<\/p>\n 2. ICE detention<\/p>\n On March 8, 2025, federal agents burst into his university residence without a judicial warrant. His wife was eight months pregnant. After being moved through several facilities, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took him on March 10 to a detention center in Louisiana, more than 2,000 miles from his home.<\/p>\n There he received what he describes as degrading treatment, including inedible food and freezing conditions. But what affected him most was something else: \u201cI remember the injustice around me. I saw broken men, crying when they saw on television that they were being called criminals and rapists. People whose only crime had been seeking a better future for their families.\u201d<\/p>\n The worst thing, he says, was missing the birth of his son. \u201cI will never forgive those who stripped me of such a divine moment, a moment every human being on this earth wants to share with their significant other.\u201d On June 20, he was released by a judge of a federal court in New Jersey who found no basis for his detention.<\/p>\n \u2014 During your detention, you wrote a letter<\/a> that said: \u201cThe Trump administration is targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent […] At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all.\u201d One year later, what do you think?<\/p>\n \u2014 You tell me (laughs). It was a warning of how Palestine would be used as a Trojan horse to come after others. The laws on material support for terrorism in this country were designed around Palestinians, but later expanded to other groups.<\/p>\n The situation raises a question: why would someone who has endured this ordeal want to keep living in the United States? \u201cAbove all, to prove that this administration is wrong,\u201d Khalil replies. \u201cIf I leave, what message would that send to the millions of people who support Palestine? That I did not fight. The second reason, of course, is that my wife and my son are American. Also, I love New York and I believe in that premise that the United States is the land of the free.\u201d <\/p>\n When asked if he still believes that, he replies: \u201cThat\u2019s why I keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n 3. What now?<\/p>\n The interview, held on Friday, June 26, took place at a pivotal moment for U.S. politics. Only days had passed since the New York Democratic primaries in which candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani scored sweeping victorie<\/a>s. What they all share is unequivocal support for the Palestinian cause and fierce criticism of the Israeli government.<\/p>\n Far from being an isolated development, the results reflect a seismic shift in U.S. public opinion: for the first time, polls show greater sympathy for the Palestinian cause than for Israel.<\/p>\n Khalil attributes this change, among other factors, to the student protests in which he took part. \u201cOur movement has succeeded. Above all because it has drastically shifted public opinion in this country, not only among young people but across the population. The hypocrisy of the establishment, where everything stops at the word \u2018Palestine,\u2019 has been exposed. Palestine was, in a way, what exposed this horrendous policy.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking about his relationship with Mamdani, Khalil notes that the mayor raised his case with Trump during a visit to the White House. \u201cA big reason for Kamala Harris\u2019s defeat was due to the Biden administration\u2019s policies on Gaza. And this will be a big question for any presidential candidate in 2028,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Trump campaigned in 2024 as a defender of free speech against what he described as a \u201cwoke\u201d dictatorship. But cases like Khalil\u2019s cast doubt on that narrative. Khalil says that is precisely why his experience has resonated with so many Americans. But, he argues, the issue extends beyond his own case. \u201cIf Trump can do this, any other president, Republican or Democrat, could do the same,\u201d he says. \u201cThese tools will be available to any president, to any administration, and they can use them against anyone who they dislike.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Manifestaci\u00f3n](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7SPOAZJRWZEHVNF66Z6U7ZLOBU.jpg\")
Demonstrations calling for the release of Mahmoud Khalil, outside a Manhattan courthouse, New York, March 12, 2025.Stefan Jeremiah (AP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ZCV4DDQZ3FGBDIP5G6XOJFEIXQ.jpg\")
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University in New York, including Mahmoud Khalil, October 12, 2023.Yuki Iwamura (AP)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RMERCVTMYNEF5CSC2BIQMLSPQQ.jpg\")
Mahmoud Khalil, June 26.Corrie Aune<\/p>\n