Palestinian-American activist Mahmoud Khalil has filed a $20 million administrative claim against the Trump administration, accusing immigration and foreign-policy officials of falsely imprisoning him for more than three months and mounting a smear campaign that portrayed him as antisemitic and supportive of Hamas. The filing, submitted on 10 July under the Federal Tort Claims Act, names the Departments of Homeland Security, State and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and serves as a prerequisite to a federal lawsuit. Khalil, 30, was arrested by plain-clothed ICE agents at his New York apartment on 8 March after helping lead pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University. He was transferred to an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he says he was denied medical care and lost 15 pounds before a U.S. District Court judge ordered his release on 20 June, finding that efforts to deport him for foreign-policy reasons were likely unconstitutional. In total, Khalil spent 104 days in detention and missed the birth of his first child. The claim contends that senior officials—including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who revoked Khalil’s visa—sought to silence campus dissent by targeting high-profile organisers. Khalil says he will accept either the monetary compensation or an official apology and policy change. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and insisted the government acted within its legal authority. Under the tort-claims process, the agencies have six months to respond before Khalil can pursue a civil suit in federal court. Meanwhile, a separate deportation case against him remains pending in immigration court, leaving his immigration status unresolved as the broader debate over protest rights and U.S. policy toward Israel continues.