Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team filed a $20 million legal claim against the Trump administration on Thursday, accusing the government of falsely imprisoning and maliciously prosecuting the Palestinian activist over his role in Columbia University’s Gaza-solidarity student protests last year.

The filing — which names the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the State Department — serves as a precursor to a civil lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act, according to the Associated Press. Khalil told the AP he plans to share any potential settlement he receives with others who’ve been targeted by the administration over their pro-Palestinian speech. He added that he’d also accept an official apology from the Trump administration, as well as changes to its deportation policies, in lieu of financial compensation.

“They are abusing their power because they think they are untouchable,” Khalil said. “Unless they feel there is some sort of accountability, it will continue to go unchecked.”

In March, Khalil was detained by plainclothes federal agents in front of his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, then eight months pregnant with their first child, at his university-owned apartment building. The arrest of the Palestinian activist, who is a green-card holder and married to an American citizen, was the Trump administration’s first publicly known deportation effort meant to crack down on pro-Gaza student protests and dissenting speech. The administration alleges that, though Khalil committed no crimes, he could be deported under an obscure 1952 statute, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s personal belief that the 30-year-old’s presence in the country would somehow impede the government’s ability “to combat antisemitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence.”

Khalil spent more than 100 days at an immigration detention center in Louisiana, where he missed the birth of his son, Deen, as well as his graduation ceremony from Columbia. He was released in late June, after a judge ruled his detention constituted unlawful retaliation for his pro-Palestinian speech.

The legal filing on Thursday outlined some of the conditions Khalil allegedly experienced while in ICE custody, including being denied access to his ulcer medication, given “nearly inedible” food, and forced to sleep under harsh fluorescent lighting. He says he lost 15 pounds while detained. “I cannot remember a night when I didn’t go to sleep hungry,” Khalil told the AP.

Being arrested, cast as antisemitic, and threatened with deportation caused him “severe emotional distress, economic hardship, damage to his reputation, and significant impairment of his First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights,” the filing alleges.

Though Khalil has been released from detention, his deportation case is ongoing. “I’m trying as much as possible to make up for the time with my son and my wife,” he told the AP. “As well as thinking about my future and trying to comprehend this new reality.”

Khalil alleges in the claim that the government abused its power to falsely arrest, imprison and prosecute him. His treatment caused “severe emotional distress, economic hardship, damage to his reputation, and significant impairment of his First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights,” the claim states.

Arrested on March 8 in Manhattan, the 30-year-old activist was held in a facility in Louisiana, 1,400 miles from his pregnant wife and, later, newborn son. On June 20, a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release, finding that the government’s efforts to deport him on foreign policy grounds were likely unconstitutional.

“This is the first step towards accountability,” Khalil said in a statement. “Nothing can restore the 104 days stolen from me. The trauma, the separation from my wife, the birth of my first child that I was forced to miss.” He called for “accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power.”

The harm resulted from Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s determination that Khalil’s presence and activities are adverse to foreign policy interest, the claim says. The Trump administration has stated that it has the authority to deport noncitizens on foreign policy grounds under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Responding to Khalil’s claim, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that “it is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America” and that “the Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil.”

President Donald Trump has called protesters against Israel’s war in Gaza antisemitic and conflated protests with support for “terrorist activities.” Khalil said such allegations, lobbed against him, were false and caused “extreme emotional distress and irreparably spoiled his reputation, career, and safety.” Khalil has condemned antisemitism before and since his arrest.

The allegations have made Khalil and his wife a target of harassment, death threats, surveillance and frivolous litigation, the claim says. Khalil said the government’s treatment is retaliation for constitutionally protected speech in defense of Palestinian rights and that he would not be silenced.

His claim is a precursor to a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, said the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is part of his legal team.

Khalil still faces charge

Khalil still faces a charge in federal court in New Jersey that he had inaccuracies on his green card application. He and his lawyers say the allegations are false. On July 9, his lawyers filed a motion challenging the government’s attempts to detain and deport him based on the immigration charge as unconstitutional.

A Palestinian born in Syria, Khalil was a student negotiator and spokesman for protesters at Columbia in the spring of 2024, when demonstrations against war in Gaza gripped college campuses. Federal immigration agents arrested Khalil on March 8 in the lobby of his student apartment building in Manhattan as he returned home from dinner with his wife.

Khalil said in his statement that he would “continue to pursue justice against everyone who contributed to my unlawful detention or spread lies in an attempt to destroy my reputation, including those affiliated with Columbia University.”

“I’m holding the U.S. government accountable not just for myself, but for everyone they try to silence through fear, exile, or detention,” he said.

Khalil’s lawyers submitted the claim against the departments of Homeland Security and State under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows people to sue the U.S. government for damages for violations of civil law.

Khalil is seeking $20 million in damages for personal injury and emotional distress. He would accept, in lieu of payment, an official apology and abandonment of the administration’s unconstitutional policy, said a statement from his lawyers.