Hundreds of supporters welcomed pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil home Sunday to New York City, just two days after a federal judge ordered him released on bail as his closely watched immigration case proceeds.
In his first major public speech since U.S. immigration agents arrested him in March, Khalil thanked his supporters and reminded the public about the ongoing war in Gaza.
“This is only the beginning of a longer fight towards justice,” Khalil, 30, said on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights. “My being here today is sweet, but it’s not a victory, not when Palestinians are still being killed under U.S. bombs and not when supporting their righteous struggle is so heavily criminalized.”
Khalil, a prominent campus activist born to Palestinian refugees in Syria, was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody Friday following more than 100 days in detention, the vast majority of it at a facility in Jena, Louisiana. He arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Saturday and made brief remarks alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who with other Democrats had long called for his release.
Supporters of Mahmoud Khalil march in Upper Manhattan on June 22, 2025.
Khalil was the first in a series of pro-Palestinian university students and their affiliates across the country whom the Trump administration has targeted for deportation. ICE officers arrested him on March 8 in the lobby of his Columbia-owned apartment building in a caught-on-camera confrontation with his wife present as she spoke on the phone with his attorney. He was transported to Louisiana shortly thereafter.
Supporters in the crowd on Sunday evening waved Palestinian flags, held signs stating “ICE out of our communities” and chanted “welcome home, Mahmoud Khalil.”
Khalil condemned Columbia for a lack of support in his legal case and what he called a “fail[ure] to protect its students.” A few other Columbia students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests were also detained by federal agents in recent months.
“Columbia administrators never disappoint to disappoint,” Khalil said. At the end of his speech, he called attention to the ongoing immigration detention of Leqaa Kordia, a New Jersey resident of Palestinian descent who was involved in protests at the school.
University spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Activists hold banners in support of Mahmoud Khalil and a ceasefire in Gaza.
Federal officials have said they are seeking to deport Khalil under a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act because he allegedly posed a threat to the United States’ foreign policy goals, including efforts to combat antisemitism. He has not been charged with a crime. While in detention he missed witnessing the birth of his son.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin decried the federal judge’s ruling Friday, saying an immigration judge was the proper authority to decide whether Khalil should be detained or released. The government has filed a notice to appeal his release.
“On the same day an immigration judge denied Khalil bond and ordered him removed, one rogue district judge ordered him released,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews and damages property.”
Under the federal judge's order, the administration can continue pursuing its deportation case against Khalil but he must remain free from detention.
