Mahmoud Khalil Sues Senior Trump Officials Under the KKK Act

The 131-page lawsuit names multiple administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, and Mullin’s predecessor, Kristi Noem. It also names the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission, and Betar, among other right-wing and Zionist groups. 

“Collectively, the conspirators’ actions, motivated by their shared unlawful purpose and animus, sought to terrorize and make an example of Mr. Khalil and other noncitizen Palestinians or supporters of Palestinians in order to intimidate and silence the growing movement for Palestinian rights and political freedom, in a manner the KKK Act was designed to proscribe when enacted during Reconstruction,” the lawsuit states. 

Last year, Khalil filed a Freedom of Information Act request with multiple federal agencies to “document and expose the reported collaboration between federal officials and private, anti-Palestinian organizations who have identified, doxxed, and reported him and others for purposes of securing the deportation of student activists advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights.”