Columbia activist freed after months in ICE detention sues Trump admin for $20M

A 30-year-old Columbia University grad student is suing the Trump administration for $20 million in damages after he was detained by ICE for months, according to USA Today.

Attorneys for Mahmoud Khalil filed the claim on Thursday, alleging that Khalil was "falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted, and smeared as an antisemite, while the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests."

Khalil, a Palestinian activist, helped lead campus protests against Israel. He was apprehended by ICE and detained in a Louisiana facility for over three months, even missing the birth of his first child.

The legal filing names the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the State Department. It comes as the deportation case against Khalil "continues to wind its way through the immigration court system."

Khalil has since been released on bail.

Read The USA Today article here.