With this complaint Khalil sought $20 million – or an official apology and an end to unconstitutional policy

July 20, 2026, New York – Mahmoud Khalil filed his second federal lawsuit in a week today. The latest case, against the Trump administration, seeks accountability for his wrongful arrest, wrongful detention, and other abuses. It comes on the heels of a separate lawsuit in which he sued individual members of the administration, including Stephen Miller and Marco Rubio, and three anti-Palestinian organizations –  Canary Mission, Betar, and the Heritage Foundation – for conspiring to deprive him of his constitutional rights. Both filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the suits reflect Mr. Khalil’s resolve to push back against his persecutors 16 months into an ordeal that began when federal agents abducted him in March 2025 in retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights and detained him for 104 days, forcing him to miss the birth of his first child.

For this type of lawsuit, Mr. Khalil was first required to file an administrative claim with the government; after the agencies denied the complaint and failed to address the harms it raised, he was then able to file a federal lawsuit, which he did today. His original claim was filed on July 10, 2025, and asked for $20 million in damages that he would use to help others similarly targeted by the Trump administration and Columbia University; in the claim, he said he would accept, in lieu of payment, an official apology and abandonment of the administration’s unconstitutional policy.

“Not only is the U.S. government using taxpayer dollars to fund Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, but they are weaponizing the immigration and legal systems to target those who speak out against them,” said Mr. Khalil. “There has to be accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power. With these lawsuits, I am pursuing justice against everyone who contributed to my unlawful detention and spread lies in an attempt to destroy my reputation. I’m holding the U.S. government accountable not just for myself, but for everyone they try to silence through intimidation, detention, or deportation.”

Malice marked the treatment of Mr. Khalil from the outset, as the administration sought to terrorize him and his family. Today’s suit cites a range of abuses, including false arrest, false imprisonment, abuse of the legal system, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Mr. Khalil brings the case under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a 1946 statute that allows individuals to sue the U.S. government for civil law violations. He is seeking damages directly from the United States for torts, or wrongs, committed by officers of the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His conspiracy case, filed last Tuesday and brought under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, differs in that it names as defendants administration officials in their individual capacities and the private actors they conspired with. 

“Mr. Khalil will never get back the months stolen from him when he was abducted and unlawfully held in immigration detention, leading him to miss his child’s birth and first months of life,” said Samah Sisay, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The Trump administration must take responsibility for its unconstitutional targeting of Mr. Khalil and compensate him for the severe harms that he continues to navigate due to its unlawful actions.”

Mr. Khalil was the first victim in a series of wrongful arrests of Palestinian rights advocates – a campaign by the administration to weaken the Palestinian solidarity movement and punish those who spoke out against Israel’s U.S.-enabled genocide in Gaza. 

Mr. Khalil’s immigration and habeas cases are ongoing.

For more information on today’s case, see here.