Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian activist and head of the green card arrested for immigration and customs application this week, said he heard that federal agents say that the White House was asking for an update on their detention, said their lawyers.
“He was surrounded by many DHS agents, or people who believed they were DHS agents, and believes that he saw or listened, during a call, one of them says that the White House wants an update about what is happening,” Samah Sisay, a staff lawyer at the Constitutional Rights Center that represents Khalil, said at a press conference on Friday.
“We have all the reasons to believe, as we claim in the request, that many people within the government’s executive branch were involved, including the White House,” said Sisay.
Khalil participated in student protests at Columbia University asking the institution to disintegrate and reduce ties with Israel, and participated in negotiations with the university administration.
“His only objective was to get Columbia University to vanish from his complicity with the crimes of the Israeli government in Gaza and the West Bank,” said Ramzi Kassem, director of Clear, a group that represents Khalil.
A person has banners, before an audience on the detention of the Palestinian activist and graduated student at Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, in New York City, on March 12, 2025.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
The White House and Columbia University did not respond immediately to the request for ABC News comments.
The University of Columbia said in a statement on Thursday: “We will continue working to support our community, including the protection of the privacy of our students, during this challenging moment and continue committed to our values and our mission.”
The Trump administration has affirmed that Khalil distributed “Pro-Ahamas propaganda flyers with the Hamas logo”, without providing evidence.
“I have those flyers in my desk, the National Security Department provided them with them,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“All this flying talk makes no sense, there is no truth at all,” Kassem said.
Khalil’s lawyers said that their informative session on the motion to force the government to return Khalil to New York should end in early next week. Their lawyers expect the judge to make a decision at some point in next week.
“Mahmoud was transferred through multiple state lines and subsequently transferred to a remote prison in Louisiana hours after presenting his habit request, an intentional and retaliation act and an attempt to interfere with the jurisdiction of the New York Court,” said Sisay.
In the weeks before his arrest, Khalil said he had feared for his safety, since he and other students of Columbia University advocating the rights of the Palestinians experienced greater doxing and harassment, their lawyers said.
The protesters join in support of Mahmoud Khalil outside the Palace of Justice of Thurgood Marshall, during an audience on the arrest of Khalil, in the city of New York, on March 12, 2025.
Charly triballeau/AFP through Getty Images
“It is like an almost daily event where Twitter, publications on social networks that show students’ photographs, identifying where they are located, where they live, with whom they are associated, while labeling ICE, while labeling DHS, while labeling the president, labeling the Secretary of State” Amy Greer, a lawyer with Dratel And Lewis, who represents Khalil, said Friday.
“He is very afraid that what happened to others,” Greer said.
Khalil’s lawyers accused the Trump administration of reprisals against Khalil for their protests and activism in support of the Palestinians who argue that their speech is protected by the first amendment.
“The Trump administration is taking an extraordinarily broad and unconstitutional vision of how material support is applied to terrorism laws in these contexts,” said Brian Hauss, a main attorney of ACLU, at the press conference.
Mahmoud Khalil talks to the media members about the Rafah camp revolt at Columbia University during the continuous conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, in New York City, USA. UU., June 1, 2024.
Jeenah Moon/Reuters
“The Supreme Court was very clear in a case called Holder Vs Humanitarian Right Project that federal terrorism laws that support terrorism do not apply to independent defense, even when that defense is explicitly that explicitly supports a foreign terrorist organization, says a statement,” support for Hamas “, if that statement is not coordinated with a foreign designated organization that is protected by the first kindness of the first kindness,” says.
The first amendment also protects the freedom of expression of people who are not American citizens, said Hauss. Khalil is a permanent resident of the United States
“The Trump administration is punishing Mr. Khalil for his speech about Palestine. He is silenced him, and is giving it as an example to cool the millions of green card holders and other non -citizens throughout the country by saying anything that can attract the anger of President Trump. That is a retaliation of the first amendment of the textbook,” said Hauss.
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said Sunday in X that the department “will revoke the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in the United States so that they can be deported.”
Khalil’s lawyers have denied that Khalil has links with Hamas and said his activism has been in support of Palestinian rights.
Hauss added: “If the administration can do this to Mr. Khalil due to his speech on Palestine, he can do it to any citizen who takes a position on global hot button issues, including the war between Russia and Ukraine, the rates imposed against the allies of the United States, or the emergence of the political parts of the extreme right in Europe.”
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Khalil was arrested by ICE “in support of President Trump’s executive orders that prohibit anti -Semitism.”
“Khalil directed activities aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” McLaughlin said in a statement on Sunday night.
