A Columbia University press institute on Tuesday sued the Trump administration over its detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student who helped negotiate with campus administrators during pro-Palestinian demonstrations last spring, and others who have taken part in such activism.
Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute filed suit in US District Court in Boston on behalf of the American Association of University Professors and its chapters at Harvard, New York, and Rutgers universities, the institute said in a statement.
“The lawsuit responds to a climate of repression and fear on university campuses,” the institute said. “Federal agencies are attempting to deport multiple individuals for their pro-Palestinian advocacy, including Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of protests at Columbia University.”
Khalil, 30, a legal US resident with no criminal record whose pregnant wife is an American citizen, was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 as part of President Trump’s crackdown on what he calls antisemitic and “anti-American” campus protests.
He remains in federal immigration custody.
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“The lawsuit alleges that the administration’s policy of ideological deportation violates the First Amendment right of the plaintiffs to hear from and associate with noncitizen students and faculty, that it is unconstitutionally vague, and that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act,” the institute said. “The suit seeks a court order declaring that the policy is unlawful and enjoining the federal government from enforcing it.”
Administration officials have argued that Khalil was supporting Hamas, the militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with his advocacy at Columbia, an assertion rejected by his lawyers.
Khalil’s arrest has sparked demonstrations on campuses nationwide, including Harvard and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited as grounds for Khalil’s deportation a rarely used statute giving him sweeping power to deport those who pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
The White House has accused Khalil of “siding with terrorists” but has yet to provide support for the claim. Trump has described Khalil’s case as the “first of many to come.”
The institute said “these actions have sent chills through the community of noncitizen students and faculty on campuses around the country, causing some to pull out of academic conferences, stay home from protests, and withdraw from other forms of public advocacy and engagement,” it said.
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Material from the Associated Press and from previous Globe stories was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.