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Khalil files KKK Act suit
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing senior Trump administration officials and pro-Israel groups of conspiring to target him over his Palestinian rights advocacy, seeking damages for unlawful conspiracy under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
“Pro-Palestine advocate Mahmoud Khalil has filed a lawsuit against officials of the administration of United States President Donald Trump and three private groups, alleging a coordinated conspiracy to target and deport him”
The suit names senior presidential advisor Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, acting attorney general Todd Blanche, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and John Armstrong of the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, along with the Heritage Foundation, Betar, and Canary Mission.
Khalil said at a press conference at New York City Hall that the case is “about exposing the network of organizations, political actors and institutions that work together to criminalize solidarity with Palestine,” and he argued that “the goal was always to manufacture fear” in an effort to intimidate non-citizen Palestinian rights activists.
The lawsuit also ties the alleged targeting to Khalil’s involvement in anti-Gaza war protest encampments at Columbia University, and it says he was detained in 2025 despite being a green card holder and married to an American citizen, with detention lasting 104 days and causing him to miss the birth of his first child.
Claims of state-private collusion
Khalil’s complaint, filed in Manhattan federal court, alleges that the Trump administration colluded with private pro-Israel entities including the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar USA, and it asserts that the Ku Klux Klan Act was intended to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups.
At the press conference, Baher Azmy, the legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, claimed that “Because they could not defend their support for the Israeli government’s actions… they sought to do what cowards and bullies do, which is to repress, to punish speech that they disliked.”
The White House disputed the allegations, with White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson saying in a statement that Khalil obtained his student visa by “fraud and misrepresentation,” while Khalil and his legal team denied the charge.
Khalil also said at a press conference in Foley Square that “This case is about far more than what was done to me,” describing it as “a coordinated ongoing campaign to punish, silence, and intimidate anyone who dares to speak out for Palestinian liberation.”
Deportation fight and stakes
The lawsuit comes as Khalil continues to fight the federal government’s effort to deport him, with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reporting that he was held in a Louisiana immigration jail for 104 days and released in June 2025 while his deportation case remained ongoing.
“Mahmoud Khalil alleges 'public-private' conspiracy to deport activists Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil is suing Trump Administration officials and three private organizations, alleging they conspired illegally to target, detain and attempt to deport him because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights”
The complaint names a “conspiracy” among private pro-Israel entities and senior Trump administration officials to target and prosecute pro-Palestinian activists, and it alleges that Project Esther, described as a 2024 plan by the Heritage Foundation, created a “blueprint for the conspiracy.”
Azmy told Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “They were taking these nominations and, within a day or two, sending DHS and ICE officials to arrest Mahmoud and others and send them to faraway prisons,” and he said the lawsuit was “demanding accountability.”
Khalil said he would not stop fighting, telling reporters: “No matter where I am, I will not stop fighting until everyone who willingly contributed to my missing the birth of my son and to taking 104 days of my life from me answers for what they’ve done,” as the suit seeks damages and an injunction preventing further reliance on what it calls “unconstitutional and pretextual grounds for detention and removal.”
