Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against senior Trump administration officials and several pro-Israel organisations, accusing them of conspiring to target, detain and deport him because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights.
The Center for Constitutional Rights filed the complaint on Tuesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Hardline Zionist groups the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar, as well as White House adviser Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other current and former officials, are named in the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that the government worked with the private groups to identify non-citizen students and scholars who supported Palestine before subjecting them to surveillance, arrest and attempted deportation. Khalil’s lawyers argue that the campaign sought to intimidate the wider Palestine solidarity movement and discourage constitutionally protected political speech.
“This case will expose the scheme that sought to criminalize the Palestine solidarity movement in the U.S.,” Khalil said after filing the action. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as a court order preventing the defendants from continuing the alleged campaign.
