Pro-Hamas Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil claimed he was ‘targeted’ by authorities due to ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ in a new letter from behind bars. 

Khalil, 30, a legal resident in the US, wrote from a detention facility as a judge ruled that his legal challenge over his arrest will proceed in court in New Jersey. 

The activist – who also dramatically described how he was arrested by cops in the letter – blamed racist officials in both Biden and Trump’s administration for his apprehension and pending deportation. 

‘I wake to cold mornings and spend long days bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law,’ Khalil said in the letter, per NBC News. 

Khalil was arrested earlier this month by immigration authorities over his role in igniting pro-Palestine protests at Columbia last year, however he has not been accused of breaking any laws. 

He described himself in the letter as a ‘political prisoner’, and slated the squalid conditions he says he is being held in at a detention facility in Louisiana. 

‘Who has the right to have rights? It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here,’ he wrote. 

Khalil said that he believes his arrest was the result of ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ in ‘both the Biden and Trump administrations’, and claimed he was being made an example of to act as a deterrent to other would-be activists. 

Mahmoud Khalil, 30, wrote in a letter from behind bars this week that he believes his arrest was 'targeted' due to 'anti-Palestine racism'

Mahmoud Khalil, 30, wrote in a letter from behind bars this week that he believes his arrest was ‘targeted’ due to ‘anti-Palestine racism’

‘The Trump administration is targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent. Visa-holders, green-card carriers, and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs,’ he warned. 

Khalil, who is a legal green card holder and is married to an American citizen, was briefly detained in New Jersey upon his arrest before he was transferred to Louisiana, where he remains. 

In his letter, Khalil condemned his arrest by plainclothes Department of Homeland Security agents, which was caught on a shocking phone recording. 

He wrote that the agents refused to provide a warrant, and claimed they ‘accosted my wife and me as we returned from dinner.’ 

The 30-year-old activist said he was handcuffed and pushed into a car, but said that ‘at that moment, my only concern was for (his wife) Noor’s safety.’ 

‘I had no idea if she would be taken too, since the agents had threatened to arrest her for not leaving my side,’ he wrote. 

Khalil said he was taken to a facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was denied a blanket and was forced to sleep on the floor. 

‘My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night,’ he continued. 

‘With January’s ceasefire now broken, parents in Gaza are once again cradling too-small shrouds, and families are forced to weigh starvation and displacement against bombs. 

‘It is our moral imperative to persist in the struggle for their complete freedom.’ 

Khalil played a leading role in igniting pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University last month, and although he has not been accused of any crime, Trump officials said he was detained because he 'led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization'

Khalil played a leading role in igniting pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University last month, and although he has not been accused of any crime, Trump officials said he was detained because he ‘led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization’ 

Mahmoud Khalil's wife, Noor Abdalla (pictured) is eight months pregnant, and he wrote in his letter behind bars: 'I hope nonetheless to be free to witness the birth of my first-born child.'

Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla (pictured) is eight months pregnant, and he wrote in his letter behind bars: ‘I hope nonetheless to be free to witness the birth of my first-born child.’

Khalil, 30, was a graduate student and legal U.S. resident involved in the anti-Israel protests at Columbia University last year who was detained by ICE

Khalil, 30, was a graduate student and legal U.S. resident involved in the anti-Israel protests at Columbia University last year who was detained by ICE

Khalil questioned ‘who has rights’ under Trump’s immigration policies, saying: ‘It isn’t the Senegalese man I met who has been deprived of his liberty for a year, his legal situation in limbo, and his family an ocean away. It isn’t the 21-year-old detainee I met, who stepped foot in this country at age nine, only to be deported without so much as a hearing. 

‘Justice escapes the contours of this nation’s immigration facilities.’ 

He also condemned that over ‘the past 16 months as the U.S. has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention.’ 

‘In the weeks ahead, students, advocates, and elected officials must unite to defend the right to protest for Palestine. At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all,’ he concluded. 

Khalil had filed a challenge to his detention in federal court in Manhattan, and on Wednesday morning a judge allowed the case to move to New Jersey. 

Judge Jesse M Furman also denied the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss Khalil’s motion to dismiss his detention, and said that his ‘serious’ claims ‘warrant careful review.’ 

‘In many ways, this is indeed an exceptional case, and there is a need for careful judicial review,’ Furman said. 

‘Such judicial review is especially critical when, as here, there are colorable claims that the Executive Branch has violated the law or exercised its otherwise lawful authority in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner.’ 

Khalil's arrest sparked protests in New York, seen in lower Manhattan on March 12, 2025

Khalil’s arrest sparked protests in New York, seen in lower Manhattan on March 12, 2025 

One of Khalil’s attorneys, Max Kaufman, said in a statement on Wednesday after the ruling: ‘The court’s ruling sends a critical message to courts across the country… no judicial role is more important than acting as a check on executive abuses the Trump administration has made the defining feature of its first 60 days. 

‘After this first step, we will eagerly and aggressively seek to get Mahmoud out, bring him home, and then defend his and others’ right to speak freely about Palestine or any other issue without fear of detention and deportation.’ 

Although he has not been charged with breaking any US laws, the DHS previously said that Khalil was arrested because he ‘led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.’ 

Khalil’s attorneys have rejected the government’s position and say there is no evidence that he provided material support to a terrorist group. 

In his letter, Khalil also wrote that he was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria after his family was displaced by the 1948 Nakba. 

‘I spent my youth in proximity to yet distant from my homeland,’ he wrote. ‘But being Palestinian is an experience that transcends borders. 

‘I see in my circumstances similarities to Israel’s use of administrative detention — imprisonment without trial or charge — to strip Palestinians of their rights… For Palestinians, imprisonment without due process is commonplace.’ 

Khalil’s wife is eight months pregnant, and he signed off his letter by saying: ‘I hope nonetheless to be free to witness the birth of my first-born child.’ 

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