Detained Columbia University student calls arrest ‘anti-Palestinian racism’

Mahmoud Khalil, a US student arrested for his role in protests against Israel at Columbia University, has spoken out for the first time since his detention, calling his arrest an example of “anti-Palestinian racism” and part of a wider effort to silence pro-Palestinian voices in the United States.

In a letter released on Tuesday by his lawyers, Khalil, who describes himself as a “political prisoner”, condemned his arrest and treatment as politically motivated.

Writing from a detention centre in Louisiana, he criticised both the Trump and Biden administrations for suppressing Palestinian activism while continuing to provide Israel with military support.

“My unjust detention is indicative of the anti-Palestinian racism that both the Biden and Trump administrations have demonstrated over the past 16 months as the US has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention,” Khalil wrote.

Khalil was arrested on 8 March by agents from the Department of Homeland Security, who he said refused to provide a warrant and threatened to detain his wife.

“By now, the footage of that night has been made public,” he wrote, recalling how agents handcuffed and forced him into an unmarked car.

Initially held overnight at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, Khalil was later transferred to a detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he slept on the floor without a blanket.

While the Justice Department has claimed Khalil’s transfer to Louisiana was due to overcrowding and a bedbug infestation at the Elizabeth facility, his lawyers have dismissed the transfer as “predetermined and carried out for improper motives”.

“I did not hear anyone mention bedbugs,” Khalil stated in a court declaration, adding that he was not informed about his transfer until he was placed in a van and told he was being taken to JFK Airport.

“I was afraid they were trying to deport me,” he said.

First Amendment concerns

His legal team has since filed an appeal, arguing that his arrest violated his First Amendment rights and requesting that the US government be barred from detaining or deporting foreigners for engaging in constitutionally protected speech in support of Palestine.

Born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, Khalil alluded to his personal history of displacement while comparing his detention to Israel’s use of administrative detention to hold Palestinians without charge or trial.

“For Palestinians, imprisonment without due process is commonplace,” he wrote, referencing Palestinian activists and doctors currently held by Israel.

Khalil further accused Columbia University administrators of enabling his targeting by “disciplining pro-Palestinian students and allowing viral doxxing campaigns — based on racism and disinformation — to go unchecked.” 

“Columbia targeted me for my activism, creating a new authoritarian disciplinary office to bypass due process and silence students criticising Israel,” he wrote.

Despite his detention, Khalil remains optimistic, viewing the student movement as central to the Palestinian liberation struggle.

“Students have long been at the forefront of change — leading the charge against the Vietnam War, standing on the frontlines of the civil rights movement and driving the struggle against apartheid in South Africa,” he wrote.

Calling his arrest part of a broader Trump administration crackdown on dissent, he warned that visa holders, green card holders, and even US citizens could be targeted for their political beliefs.

“At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all,” he cautioned, urging students, activists, and lawmakers to unite in defending the right to protest for Palestine.