Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian protest organizer at Columbia University whose detainment last year made national headlines, will be re-detained by ICE and deported, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Wednesday.
Khalil, who has a valid green card, was originally arrested on March 8, 2025, and held in ICE detention for several months in 2025 for what officials said, at the time, was his role in the Columbia University protests. He was held for several months before a long legal battle secured his release.
Now, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Trish McLaughlin claims Khalil will not only be retaken into custody, but he will also be deported to Algeria. Khalil was born in Syria.
“It looks like he’ll go to Algeria. That’s what the thought is right now,” McLaughlin said during a Jan. 21 interview on Newsnation. “It’s a reminder for those who are in this country on a visa or on a green card. You are a guest in this country — act like it.”
Khalil has yet to respond to McLaughlin, but has repeatedly denied claims that he supports violence.
Khalil became an early target of the Trump administration, with the advocate being accused of supporting Hamas, a terrorist organization, and lying on documents he used to apply for permanent U.S. residency. Supporters of Khalil proclaimed him a political prisoner being persecuted by the Trump regime; his 2025 detention sparked massive protests.
When he was released in June following a U.S. Court of Appeals decision, hundreds gathered to greet him at a rally on the steps of St. John the Divine, where he described his experience held in detention.
“I shared a dorm with over 70 men, absolutely no privacy, lights on all the time. I spent my days listening to one tragic story after another, listening to a father of four whose wife is battling cancer and he’s in detention,” Khalil said. “I listened to a story of an individual who has been in the United States for over 20 years, all his children are American, yet he’s been deported. It’s so normal in detention to see men cry.”
Most recently, Khalil attended the inauguration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Last week, the mayor posted on X (Twitter) that the activist must be allowed to remain in the U.S.
“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression; it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” Mamdani wrote on Jan. 16. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free—and must remain free.”
