'Rights granted to those who align with power': Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil slams Trump-era deportation

Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil, whose arrest sparked protests in universities across the US described his detention as an "administrative error" and alleged that the evidence against him was based on "sensationalized tabloids."

“Last Friday, I sat in a courtroom as an immigration judge determined that the government could deport me despite my status as a legal permanent resident and despite that the government’s claims against me were baseless — much of its “evidence” lifted directly from sensationalized tabloids,” Khalil wrote.

Despite being a legal permanent resident married to a US citizen, Khalil said he had been targeted for his political beliefs, particularly his criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.

In the piece, Khalil described the conditions inside the detention centre, where dozens of men sleep on hard mats under a leaking metal roof. “Which ones are dreaming about reuniting with their families? Which ones are having nightmares about becoming the Trump administration’s next ‘administrative error’?”

The Columbia University graduate student and prominent face of the campus protest movement said he was shocked at how quickly his case was processed.

“I think about the breakneck speed with which my case was heard and decided, running roughshod over due process,” he wrote. He compared his experience to that of Mitsuye Endo, a Japanese American who challenged her wartime incarceration in a case that reached the US Supreme Court.

“Rights are granted to those who align with power. For the poor, for people of color, for those who resist injustice, rights are but words written on water,” Khalil added.

“The right to free speech when it comes to Palestine has always been exceptionally weak. Even so, the crackdown on universities and students reveals just how afraid the White House is of the idea of Palestine’s freedom entering the mainstream. Why else would Trump officials not only attempt to deport me but also intentionally mislead the public about who I am and what I stand for?” he rewrote.

Last Friday, Judge Jamee E. Comans ruled that the government had met the legal threshold to deport Khalil on grounds of foreign policy. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited a rarely used statute, arguing that Khalil’s activism posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” for the United States. In a letter to the court, Rubio accused him of participating in “anti-Semitic protests and disruptive activities,” though no crimes have been alleged.

Khalil’s lawyers called the ruling “a weaponisation of immigration law to suppress dissent” and said they would appeal. They have until 23 April to seek a waiver.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has denied accusations that it is targeting pro-Palestinian voices , though Khalil’s case is part of a broader pattern. Immigration officials have arrested other students and academics critical of Israel, including a Georgetown scholar and a Brown University professor. Some had their visas cancelled, others faced deportation proceedings.

Despite the pressure, Khalil said his beliefs remain unchanged. “Like the thousands of students that I advocated with at Columbia — including Muslim, Jewish and Christian friends — I believe in the innate equality of all human beings,” he wrote. “I believe in human dignity. I believe in the right of my people to look at the blue sky and not fear an impending missile.”