Mahmoud Khalil calls out ongoing threats against him
Months after his release from US immigration detention over his involvement in peaceful campus protests against the Gaza genocide, Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil has said he is still facing threats.
In a post on X, Khalil responded to New York City councilwoman Vickie Paladino, a Republican, saying that he should be loaded into a military plane, handed a parachute and pushed “out the back over Syria”.
“A New York City councilwoman is publicly fantasizing about killing me, and somehow I’m the threat,” Khalil said.
A Palestinian who was born a refugee in Syria, Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in New York when he was detained by US immigration agents on March 8, 2025.
The Trump administration said they intended to deport Khalil despite his having legal residence in the US and having broken no laws.
His case, which the Trump administration continues to contest, attracted international attention before a Judge ruled his detention unconstitutional in June.
Mahmoud Khalil calls out ongoing threats against him
Months after his release from US immigration detention over his involvement in peaceful campus protests against the Gaza genocide, Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil has said he is still facing threats.
In a post on X, Khalil responded to New York City councilwoman Vickie Paladino, a Republican, saying that he should be loaded into a military plane, handed a parachute and pushed “out the back over Syria”.
“A New York City councilwoman is publicly fantasizing about killing me, and somehow I’m the threat,” Khalil said.
A Palestinian who was born a refugee in Syria, Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in New York when he was detained by US immigration agents on March 8, 2025.
The Trump administration said they intended to deport Khalil despite his having legal residence in the US and having broken no laws.
His case, which the Trump administration continues to contest, attracted international attention before a Judge ruled his detention unconstitutional in June.