Mahmoud Khalil is suing the federal government and several private groups, insisting they were part of a joint conspiracy to suppress criticism of Israel by doxing, jailing and attempting to deport supporters of the pro-Palestine movement.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Tuesday, alleges a coordinated campaign among senior officials of President Donald Trump's administration, leaders of the Heritage Foundation and two online surveillance groups, Canary Mission and Betar.
"Today, I sued the Heritage Foundation, Stephen Miller, a Columbia affiliate, and others under the KKK Act," he said, adding that this lawsuit is about "accountability and justice."
According to Khalil’s lawyers, that "public-private partnership" — first brought to light in a separate trial last year — may violate the Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era law that sought to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups.
Inquiries to the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar were not immediately returned on Tuesday.
"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," Khalil said.
He said additional legal actions would follow.
"This lawsuit is about far more than what was done to me. It is about a coordinated, ongoing plot to punish, silence, and intimidate everyone who dares to dissent and speak out for Palestinian liberation. We will hold them accountable," he added.
Crackdown on anti-genocide demonstrators
A former graduate student at Columbia University, Khalil, 31, gained prominence as a spokesperson and leader for student activists protesting against Israel and its actions in Gaza.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident who is married to a US citizen, was arrested in March 2025 by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in his campus apartment. He quickly became the face of the Trump administration crackdown on pro-Palestine and anti-genocide demonstrators.
He then spent 104 days in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child, before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release.
Khalil's deportation case, a priority for the Trump administration, has moved with unusual speed through executive-branch-controlled immigration courts, and may soon wind up before the US Supreme Court.
He has forcefully denied that his role in pro-Palestine protests amounts to antisemitism.
"My beliefs are not wanting my tax money or tuition going toward investments in weapons manufacturers for a genocide," he previously told The Associated Press.
"It’s as simple as that."
Canary Mission is a shadowy, anonymous pro-Israel doxxing and blacklisting website aimed at silencing and intimidating pro-Palestine students, academics, and activists in North America.
