Mahmoud Khalil feted by AOC as he vows to resume anti-Israel activism after release from jail

NEWARK, New Jersey, — Mahmoud Khalil vows to resume his pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activism as he returns to New York a day after he was released on bail from a jail for immigrants, even as US President Donald Trump’s administration says it will continue its efforts to deport the recent Columbia University graduate.

He arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon to cheers and ululations from friends and supporters. Khalil, 30, is reunited with his wife, a US citizen, and greeted at the airport by US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York.

“Not only if they threaten me with detention, even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine again,” Khalil says, holding a bouquet of flowers. “I just want to go back and just continue the work that I was already doing, advocating for Palestinian rights, speech that should actually be celebrated rather than punished.”

Khalil, who recently graduated from Columbia University in Manhattan, was a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel student protest movement that swept campuses last year. Federal immigration agents arrested him in the lobby of his Columbia apartment building on March 8, making him the first target of Trump’s effort to combat antisemitism by deporting international students with pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel views.

Ocasio-Cortez, speaking alongside Khalil at the airport, condemns the Trump administration for what she calls “persecution based on political speech.”

“Being taken is wrong. It is illegal,” she says. “It is an affront to every American.”

“Free Palestine!” Khalil said with a raised fist as he left the airport.