Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil says Trump administration has failed

Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil has said the Trump administration failed to suppress pro-Palestinian voices, following his release from more than three months in immigration detention.

“My existence is a message” to the Trump administration, he told the BBC after returning to New Jersey from a detention centre in Louisiana. “All these attempts to suppress Pro-Palestinian voices have failed now.”

Mr Khalil was a prominent voice in the New York university’s pro-Palestinian protests last year, and his 8 March arrest sparked demonstrations in New York and Washington DC.

The US government wants to deport him, arguing his activism is detrimental to foreign policy interests.

Speaking at the airport in Newark, New Jersey, Mr Khalil vowed to continue to advocate for Palestinian rights, and for the rights of the immigrants “who are left behind in that facility” where he was jailed in Louisiana.

He accused the White House of attempting to “dehumanise anyone who does not agree with the administration”.

Mr Khalil’s remarks come a day after a judge ordered him released from jail after determining that he was not a flight risk or threat to his community while his immigration proceedings continue.

The Trump administration has vowed to appeal against his release, as it continues its efforts to remove him from the US.