Mahmoud Khalil’s release: ‘I believe that we will win’

Seeking mental solace in the crowded dorm room where he was jailed with seventy other men, Mahmoud Khalil repeated a statement to himself that had become his personal mantra. “I believe that we will win,” he told himself again and again, as he listened to the stories of the other detainees at the Jena, Louisiana Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre he had been flown to after his kidnapping in New York on March 8.

“I found myself literally scratching this into my bunk bed and looking at it as I fell asleep and as I woke up. I find myself repeating, repeating it even now, knowing that I have won in a small way by being free — by being free today,” Khalil said upon his release.

In what has become standard if still illegal procedure since Trump’s return to the White House, Khalil, a legal resident in the US, had been arrested by plain clothes ICE agents who refused to identify themselves or produce an arrest warrant. He was returning home with his wife, US citizen Dr. Nour Abdalla, after an Iftar dinner when he was handcuffed and taken away just outside his apartment building on the Columbia University campus.

As he languished for months in the ICE detention centre, he missed his graduation from Columbia, and the birth of his son, Deen.

A symbol of Trump’s repression

Mahmoud Khalil’s case made global headlines for many reasons, not least because he was the first green-card holder activist arrested for his involvement in last year’s student encampments, and threatened with the revocation of his legal residency.

The brazenness of his arrest, with no criminal charges against him, sent a message to pro-Palestine activists across the country that simply speaking up for Palestine was enough to be imprisoned, have your student visa and residency revoked, and ultimately, be deported.

Mahmoud Khalil thus became the symbol of the Trump Administration’s clampdown on free speech. Indeed, Khalil himself knew he had become that symbol: In an interview with ABC News, he was asked why he believed he had been arrested, and his response was “because I represent a movement that goes against what this administration is trying to do.”

As such, his release on Saturday, June 21, after 104 days in detention, was more than a personal victory, it was emblematic of the hopes and possibilities still within reach for many immigrants, student activists, and pro-Palestine organisers. 

Specifically, Khalil’s arrest and subsequent release are significant in a number of ways.  First is the legal battle that allowed for his conditional release: Khalil is fighting on two fronts, in immigration court, against his deportation, and in federal court, against the constitutionality of his arrest. The tug-of-war between the two courts is what allowed for his release on bail, and reveals a deep rift within the government.

While there are no criminal charges against Khalil, the Trump administration is relying on a Cold War-era Immigration and Nationality Act which allows the US to deport non-citizens if the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, believes their presence will have serious negative consequences for US foreign policy.

Violating freedom of speech

Resorting to this legal loophole is a direct return to McCarthyism—an era of political witch-hunts, repression, and persecution during which many lost their jobs and were blacklisted, thus subsequently unable to secure employment.

With the threat of authoritarianism looming over the nation, the political fault lines are clearly very stressed, and Trump is suffering major setbacks.

Indeed, Khalil is not the only student who was recently released after an egregious arrest and detention. Mohsen Mahdawi, a fellow Palestinian student at Columbia, and green card holder, had been arrested and released after two weeks in April 2025, after a federal judge ruled he could not be detained without charges. The judge considered his arrest “a betrayal to the constitution of this country.”

Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen, was also released after a judge determined that since the only evidence against her was an opinion article she had written, her arrest was unconstitutional.

Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow Badar Khan Suri, an Indian citizen, was released when a judge determined his detention was a violation of the first and fifth amendments, respectively the right to free speech and the right to due process. All had been arrested without charges, though none were imprisoned as long as Khalil. 

Khalil’s arrest and release are also significant because of the defiance and transnational analysis he articulates so well. In a press conference he gave immediately upon landing in New Jersey, he vowed to continue to protest Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people, the US funding of the genocide, and Columbia University’s investing in the genocide.

Connecting struggles

The next morning, and forbidden to speak at Columbia University, Khalil addressed a rally outside of a nearby cathedral, in which he demanded an end to the US-funded Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people, and called out Columbia University for its complicity in the genocide.

At that rally, Khalil saluted student activists across the country, denouncing their criminalisation, and consistently bringing up the plight of the other ICE detainees, saying the fight is not about him, but about the thousands of immigrants separated from their families, their homes, their communities. In doing so, Khalil articulated the transnational understanding of joint struggle that is becoming the new norm among young activists, many of whom have found their way into the struggle for justice in Palestine from an anti-racist, anti-incarceration, anticolonial, or pro-immigrant perspective.

For students, the timing of his release, followed by his defiant assertion that he will not be intimidated into silence, was optimal, a much-needed shot in the arm: this is the end of the academic year, and campus activism tends to wane over summer.

Additionally, the mainstream US media had made little to no mention of the many graduating students at a number of universities who had brought up Palestine in their commencement speeches, or who had unfurled Palestinian flags as they walked the stage, some of whom had their diploma revoked for their actions.

Khalil’s insistence on protesting the genocide is reinvigorating the student movement, as it foregrounds last year’s encampments – the largest student protests in the US since the Vietnam War. After all, even without “charges,” it is understood that Khalil was arrested for the “crime” of being one of the negotiators between the students and the Columbia University administration.

Meanwhile, the Israeli attack on Iran, and the global media focus on the potentially catastrophic consequences of Israel and the US’s actions, had eclipsed coverage of the situation in Gaza, even as that remains just as dire. Mahmoud Khalil’s outspokenness, his courage and commitment, his insistence that Palestine not be forgotten, are an inspiration to many to keep speaking. 

In an interview on national television, Khalil was asked what he would tell Trump if he were to meet him in person. His answer: “My main message is that he vowed that he would set the Palestinian movement in this country 20 years back during his campaign. But what he did to me actually advanced the cause of Palestinian liberation for many years.”

Mahmoud Khalil is home with his family, but he is not free yet. He is out on bail, has had to surrender his passport, and may still be deported. But his defiance is an inspiration to all. Just like Khalil did, we must not give up the fight, we must continue to speak up for Palestine, we must continue to call for an end to the genocide.

We must continue to push back, and we must believe that we will win.

We believe that we will win.

We will win.

Nada Elia is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Western Washington University, and author of Greater than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Inter/Nationalism, and Palestine.

Follow her on X: @nadaelia48

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.