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A no longer too long ago released FBI file shines unique light on the times at once main up to the arrest of then-Columbia University student and Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil.

On March 6 of closing year, two days before unidentified officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement kidnapped and arrested Khalil at his residence, the FBI bought an nameless tip claiming that Khalil, listed incorrectly as a 22-year-veteran, had called for “violence on behalf of Hamas.” 

Per the carefully redacted paperwork, as of March 19, 2025, the FBI had closed an investigation into the tip and sure that Khalil “would now not warrant extra FBI investigation.” But by then, ICE had already secretly taken Khalil, now 31, thousands of miles away to a penal complex in Louisiana. Despite the FBI’s decision to end the tip, the Trump administration persisted to paint Khalil as a “Hamas supporter” and a possibility to national security. 

It’s unclear if the FBI tip became straight linked to Khalil’s ICE arrest, and the FBI did no longer reply to The Intercept’s inquire of about whether or no longer the tip became shared with ICE. But Hamid Bendaas, a spokesperson on the Institute for Heart East Knowing, which has worked with Khalil since his arrest, mentioned the timing reflects “a possibility to us all.”

Even though the FBI doc says Khalil did no longer warrant extra investigation, “that didn’t cease ICE from retaining him in a penal complex and surroundings aside him from his wife and unique child son for months,” Bendaas mentioned. 

The doc involves light because the Trump administration has speedy-tracked Khalil’s deportation case, which Khalil’s appropriate crew argues is a develop of retaliation in opposition to his true political speech in enhance of Palestine. Khalil’s crew bought the FBI doc, which has no longer been beforehand reported, through a lawsuit over a public records query and shared it exclusively with The Intercept.

Khalil became the first of thousands of students the Trump administration centered for deportation over First Modification-true speech in enhance of Palestine or criticizing Israel. The Trump administration exploited an imprecise provision in immigration law to disclose that Khalil and completely different students, along side Mohsen Mahdawi and Rümeysa Öztürk, presented a possibility to U.S. international coverage pursuits. Secretary of Teach Marco Rubio, who ordered Khalil to be deported, has all over again and all over again claimed that he sympathized with terrorists, echoing claims from a long way-ethical doxing groups that had centered Khalil in the months main up to his arrest. Trump’s out of the ordinary crackdown came after years of identical attacks on legit-Palestine students that won dash below worn President Joe Biden. 

“Under Trump’s rogue presidency being led by extremists and conspiracy theorists,” Bendaas mentioned, “any of us may perhaps perhaps also furthermore be kidnapped by federal agents in the midst of the night simply for talking in opposition to U.S. enhance for Israel’s genocide, it is no longer really most necessary what the facts or Constitution says.” 

The Heart for Constitutional Rights, share of Khalil’s appropriate crew, submitted a query for public paperwork linked to his arrest in terms of a year ago, on Can also simply 29, 2025. After denials and delays, CCR filed a lawsuit on November 20 claiming that federal agencies, along side the FBI, had improperly withheld the records. CCR mentioned it has since bought completely different paperwork from the Department of Justice and is staring at for more from completely different agencies in the impending months.

“Despite the FBI closing its investigation with no findings to enhance the accusation, the Trump administration persisted to trace Mr. Khalil a supporter of Hamas in public comments,” mentioned CCR workers attorney Samah Sisay. “This doc extra helps our argument that the Trump administration had no legitimate motive to target Mr. Khalil besides his free speech in enhance of Palestine.”

In an announcement to The Intercept, an FBI spokesperson mentioned, “We let paperwork obtained throughout the FOIA assignment focus on for themselves and decline to comment extra.”

Reacting to the FBI file, an attorney at Palestine Gorgeous condemned the Trump administration’s scheme however called it “representative of the tactics worn more broadly in opposition to Palestine activists.”

“Revelations that unfounded stories were made in opposition to Mahmoud before his govt sanctioned kidnapping, and that the administration persisted to construct unfounded claims that Mahmoud posed a hazard, even supposing the FBI discovered these claims to be unsubstantiated, are extremely representative of this administration’s broader scheme of acting first and making up justifications later, with no regard for truth or the findings of the administration’s have consultants,” mentioned Zoha Khalili, a senior managing attorney at Palestine Gorgeous. “Across the realm, those that inquire of freedom, equality, liberation, and the basic requirements of existence for Palestinians were smeared, silenced, investigated, and even imprisoned for his or her advocacy.”

Khalil’s crew also plans to charm the Board of Immigration Appeals explain rejecting Khalil’s charm to end his deportation proceedings. He’s calm combating a separate federal habeas corpus case and can’t be deported while the case proceeds.

Update: Can also simply 12, 2026, 4:06 p.m. ET
This yarn has been updated with a comment from an attorney at Palestine Gorgeous sent after publication.