Diyar Guldogan
14 July 2026•Update: 14 July 2026
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday against the Heritage Foundation, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and others, accusing them of participating in a coordinated effort to retaliate against him for his advocacy on Palestinian rights.
Khalil said the case was brought under the Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era civil rights law designed to combat conspiracies to deprive individuals of their constitutional rights.
"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."
Khalil, a lawful US resident and a former Columbia University graduate student, was detained last March without a warrant by immigration officers in New York City and transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, where he was held for months.
In January, a US federal appeals court ruled that a judge had no jurisdiction to order the release of Khalil.
"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.
