Khalil, who is a U.S. permanent resident and green card holder, was arrested by federal immigration authorities on Saturday; he has since been transferred to a detention center in Louisiana.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduated student who was detained by the Trump administration for organizing pro-Palestine protests, has filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to prevent the school from releasing his disciplinary records to a House committee.
According to The New York Times, Khalil and his seven co-plaintiffs claim that the House committee’s request—and the university’s potential compliance with it—violate the First Amendment rights of students, as well as the university’s contractual obligation to protect their privacy.
Khalil’s seven co-plaintiffs, who are students at both Columbia and Barnard College, are not identified by name in the lawsuit; instead, they referred to by pseudonyms such as “Sally Roe” and “Ned Noe.”
The Times notes that, last month, the House Committee on Education and Workforce sent a letter to Columbia interim president Dr. Katrina Armstrong. In its letter, the committee demanded more information about “numerous antisemitic incidents” that allegedly taken place on Columbia’s campus.
The committee also asked for the disciplinary records of students connected to 11 incidents that occurred during the 2023-2024 school year, including a student-led occupation of Hamilton Hall and protests against a course held by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“The Committee’s Letter is clearly intended to chill the protected speech of University’s students,” the lawsuit alleges.
“The records demanded by the Committee are not substantially related to antisemitism. Rather, the Committee has instrumentalized accusations of antisemitism to attack ideas that it ideologically opposes,” the lawsuit says. “[…] It traffics in anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic dog whistles to justify unjustifiable intrusions on First Amendment rights.”
Khalil, who is a U.S. permanent resident and green card holder, was arrested by federal immigration authorities on Saturday; he has since been transferred to a detention center in Louisiana.
Although Khalil has not been charged with a crime, the Trump administration claims that it retains the authority to deport any non-citizen whose presence is “adversarial” to either foreign policy or national security interests.
The U.S. of Department of State has defended its decision to detain Khalil.
“If you tell us that you are in favor of a group like [Hamas], and if you tell us, when you apply for your visa, ‘And by the way, I intend to come to your country as a student and rile up all kinds of anti-Jewish-student, antisemitic activities, I intend to shut down your universities’—if you told us these things when they applied for a visa, we would deny your visa,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“I hope we would,” he added. “If you actually end up doing that, once you’re in this country on such a visa, we will revoke it.”
The Hill notes that, under present law and guidance, only a federal immigration judge has the authority to revoke legal permanent residency.
Sources
Khalil Sues Columbia and Lawmakers to Keep Activists’ Names Secret
Mahmoud Khalil sues Columbia, House Education Committee over student records
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