Mahmoud Khalil sues Columbia University for allowing harassment that led to his ICE arrest

Former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil launched a federal lawsuit on Monday against the Ivy League institution, on the grounds that it allowed people like him to be discriminated against, harassed, and ultimately arrested by US immigration agents. He is joined on the case by the Palestine Working Group (PWG), a student-led campus organisation formed within the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia, as well as its president, Mohammed Ibrahim Zubairi. The university, the lawsuit claims, showed "deliberate indifference towards and failure to respond to instances of severe, persistent, and coordinated harassment" directed towards the plaintiffs, specifically because of "their pro-Palestine advocacy and affiliation, their perceived shared ancestry as Arab and/or Muslim students, their national origin, and/or their status as non-citizen immigrants". Khalil is a Palestinian Muslim who holds an Algerian passport, while Zubairi is a Pakistani Muslim holding a Pakistani passport, the lawsuit said. "If only I had legal support [from the university] before my detention, I don't think ICE would have came and kidnapped me," Khalil told reporters at a news conference in New York City on Monday. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "That's why I'm not suing Colombia for what ICE did. I'm suing them for all the groundwork that they did before my abduction to make my abduction possible," he added. "Because without Colombia's intentional disregard to my safety, I don't think ICE would have came after me." Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under the Trump administration's pledge to root out anti-Israel rhetoric among non-citizens, in March 2025. His case gained global attention. 'They traded us away' Khalil is married to a US citizen and used to be a US Green Card holder. When he was arrested, plainclothes ICE agents said his student visa and Green Card had been revoked. Khalil was locked up in an ICE prison for 104 days, causing him to miss the birth of his first child, until a federal judge ordered him released while the government's case against him plays out. The lawsuit specifically names the defendants as the Columbia Board of Trustees, as well as SIPA Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo. 'Our safety and well-being did not serve the ideological project [Columbia’s] Board of Trustees was protecting, so they traded us away' - Mahmoud Khalil "Fearing for their safety, Mr Khalil, Mr Zubairi, and other PWG members repeatedly reported... instances of harassment and doxxing to Columbia University officials, including directly to SIPA’s dean... for over five months," the lawsuit said, referencing the aftermath of the mass protests that broke out on campus against Israel's genocide in Gaza in 2024. "Defendants failed to respond to those reports or take appropriate action to extinguish the severe, pervasive, and objectionably offensive harassment... and instead retaliated against PWG, unreasonably interfering with their ability to function as a student organization by repeatedly characterizing its events as security risks." Khalil said on Monday that he met with Colombia officials multiple times in the months before his arrest, "pleading for support for the Palestinian community", but that "those pleas went nowhere". Instead, he added, the university banned the student-led advocacy groups Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. "Our safety and well-being did not serve the ideological project [Columbia's] Board of Trustees was protecting, so they traded us away," Khalil said on Monday. Middle East Eye reached out to Columbia University and was told by a spokesperson that "creating a campus environment where every member of our community feels welcome, supported, and safe is fundamental to who we are as a University". "It is also a responsibility we take seriously," the emailed statement read. "Columbia is committed to protecting our community from discrimination and harassment, and responding promptly and appropriately when concerns arise." Multiple lawsuits Monday's announcement follows similar legal action last month, which sought monetary damages under New York City's Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination and harassment on grounds including race and national origin. Who is Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian student activist facing deportation from the US? Read More » A group of current and former Palestinian students and staff sued Columbia University for discriminating against Palestinians and targeting pro-Palestinian activism on campus. The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, alleged that Columbia subjected Palestinian students, faculty and staff to unequal treatment following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 and the ensuing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza perpetrated by Israel. According to the complaint, Columbia "actively participated in and amplified" what the plaintiffs describe as racially, ethnically and politically motivated targeting of Palestinians. The plaintiffs said the university failed to adequately protect Palestinian members of its community from harassment while subjecting pro-Palestinian activists to "unfair and biased disciplinary hearings". Among the allegations is that Columbia hired private investigators to surveil students involved in the March 2024 "Resistance 101" event. Six students were subsequently suspended and evicted from university housing, according to the lawsuit. Both Khalil's case and its predecessor follow more than two years of controversy over Columbia's handling of protests against Israel's war on Gaza. In July 2025, Columbia reached a deal with the Trump administration to resolve federal investigations into alleged violations of anti-discrimination law and restore federal research funding the government had frozen. Under the agreement, the university agreed to pay $200m to the US government and another $21m to settle Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigations concerning allegations of antisemitism against Jewish employees. Columbia did not admit wrongdoing or agree with the government's conclusion that it had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The university also settled a separate lawsuit brought by Jewish plaintiffs in February 2026 alleging that Columbia had failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitism. Palestinian activists and free-speech groups, meanwhile, have repeatedly accused Columbia of disproportionately punishing opposition to Israel.