What Happened
Khalil, a Palestinian activist and legal permanent resident of the U.S., had served as a negotiator and spokesperson during Columbia University’s 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment protests. On March 8, 2025, plainclothes ICE agents took him from his Columbia housing in Morningside Heights, New York, without a warrant.
He had never been charged with or convicted of a crime. Two days earlier, the FBI had received an anonymous tip accusing him of calling for violence — the bureau reviewed it and found it did not warrant further investigation, according to an FBI file later obtained by The Intercept, but the administration continued publicly describing him as a threat.
The government’s legal basis for deporting him rested on a rarely used provision letting the Secretary of State order removal of noncitizens whose presence is deemed to carry “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” He was held for 104 days, largely at a detention facility in Louisiana, before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release on bail in June 2025 and barred his deportation on First Amendment grounds.
