Freed from ICE detention, Mahmoud Khalil files $20 million claim against Trump administration

NEW YORK AP On a latest afternoon Mahmoud Khalil sat in his Manhattan apartment cradling his -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 located himself uncharacteristically speechless I cannot describe the pain of that night Khalil declared definitively 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 million in damages against the Trump administration alleging Khalil was falsely imprisoned maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite as the authorities sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests The filing a precursor to a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Maintains Act names the Department of Homeland Defense U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the State Department It comes as the deportation circumstance against Khalil a -year-old latest graduate candidate at Columbia University continues to wind its way through the immigration court system The goal Khalil announced is to send a message that he won t be intimidated into silence They are abusing their power because they think they are untouchable Khalil disclosed Unless they feel there is particular sort of accountability it will continue to go unchecked Khalil explained he plans to share any settlement money with others targeted in Trump s failed effort to suppress pro-Palestinian speech In lieu of a settlement he would also accept an official apology and changes to the administration s deportation policies A White House spokesperson deferred comment to the State Department which declared its actions were fully supported by the law In an emailed comment Tricia McLaughlin a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Measure called Khalil s claim absurd accusing him of hateful behavior and rhetoric that threatened Jewish students Harsh conditions and an absurd allegation The filing accuses President Donald Trump and other executives of mounting a haphazard and illegal campaign to terrorize him and his family beginning with Khalil s March arrest On that night he mentioned he was returning home from dinner with his wife Noor Abdalla when he was effectively kidnapped by plainclothes federal agents who refused to provide a warrant and appeared surprised to learn he was a legal U S permanent resident He was then whisked overnight to an immigration jail in Jena Louisiana a remote location that was deliberately concealed from his family and attorneys according to the filing Inside Khalil declared he was denied his ulcer medication forced to sleep under harsh fluorescent lights and fed nearly inedible food causing him to lose pounds kilograms I cannot remember a night when I didn t go to sleep hungry Khalil recalled Meanwhile the Trump administration publicly celebrated the arrest promising to deport him and others whose protests against Israel it dubbed pro-terrorist anti-Semitic anti-American activity Khalil who has condemned antisemitism before and since his arrest was not accused of a crime and has not been linked to Hamas or any other terror group At several point it becomes like reality TV Khalil noted of the accusations It s very absurd Deported for beliefs A insufficient weeks into his incarceration Khalil was awoken by a fellow detainee who pointed excitedly to his face on a jailhouse TV screen A new memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged Khalil hadn t broken the law but argued he should be deported for beliefs that could undermine U S foreign initiative interests My beliefs are not wanting my tax money or tuition going toward investments in weapons manufacturers for a genocide Khalil commented It s as simple as that By then Khalil had become something of a celebrity in the -person lock-up When not dealing with his own development he hosted office hours for fellow immigrant detainees leaning on his past experience working at a British embassy in Beirut to help others organize paperwork and find translators for their cases I m pretty good at bureaucracy Khalil declared At night they played Russian and Mexican card games as Khalil listened to one story after another from people who didn t understand what s happening to them This was one of the largest part heartbreaking moments he declared People on the inside don t know if they have any rights Lost time On June after days in custody Khalil was ordered issued by a federal judge who detected the executive s efforts to remove him on foreign guidelines grounds were likely unconstitutional He now faces new assertions of misrepresenting personal details on his green card application In a motion filed late Wednesday attorneys for Khalil described those charges as baseless and retaliatory urging a judge to dismiss them The weeks since his release Khalil reported have brought moments of bliss and intense personal anguish Fearing harassment or workable arrest he leaves the house less frequently avoiding large crowds or late-night walks But he lit up as he remembered watching Deen taking his first swim earlier in the week It was not very pleasant for him Khalil explained radiating I m trying as much as practicable to make up for the time with my son and my wife he added As well thinking about my future and trying to comprehend this new reality Part of that reality he declared will be continuing his efforts to advocate against Israel s war in Gaza which has killed more than Palestinians more than half of them women and children according to Gaza s Wellbeing Ministry On the day after his release he led a march through Manhattan draped in a Palestinian flag and flanked by guard As he poured Deen s milk into a bottle Khalil considered whether he might ve done anything differently had he known the personal cost of his activism We could ve communicated better We could ve built more bridges with more people he reported But the core thing of opposing a genocide I don t think you can do that any differently This is your moral imperative when you re watching your people be slaughtered by the minute