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DHS fires out scorching response to $20 million lawsuit from Mahmoud Khalil against Trump administration

Anti-Israel migrant Mahmoud Khalil accused the Trump administration of illegally targeting him for deportation in a $20 million lawsuit.

Khalil is accused by the administration of leading a violent anti-Israel protest when he was a student at Columbia University and violating the terms of his immigration visa. The case has become a proxy battle between the opponents of the mass deportations ordered by President Donald Trump and his supporters.

‘Khalil’s claim that DHS officials branded him as an anti-Semite and terrorized him and his family is absurd. It was Khalil who terrorized Jewish students on campus.’

“Mr. Khalil is seeking $20 million, which he would use to help others similarly targeted by the Trump administration and Columbia University,” reads a press release from the Center for Constitutional Rights. “He would accept, in lieu of payment, an official apology and abandonment of the administration’s unconstitutional policy.”

The CCR said the lawsuit was only the beginning.

“The claim is a precursor to a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, which he will bring under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a 1946 federal statute that allows individuals to sue the U.S. government for damages for civil law violations,” the statement reads.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for Homeland Security, responded with her own fiery statement.

“Mahmoud Khalil’s claim that DHS officials branded him as an anti-Semite and terrorized him and his family is absurd. It was Khalil who terrorized Jewish students on campus. He ‘branded’ himself as anti-Semite through his own hateful behavior and rhetoric,” McLaughlin said.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America,” she added. “The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property.”

RELATED: Piers Morgan issues devastating argument on detention of pro-Hamas migrant Mahmoud Khalil

Khalil’s defenders have accused the government of viewpoint discrimination in violation of his free speech rights, but others point out that people on visas don’t have the same rights as citizens in the U.S.

In a statement with the lawsuit announcement, Khalil claimed that he missed the birth of his first child because he had been detained by the Trump administration.

“This is the first step towards accountability. Nothing can restore the 104 days stolen from me. The trauma, the separation from my wife, the birth of my first child that I was forced to miss,” he wrote. “But let’s be clear, the same government that targeted me for speaking out is using taxpayer dollars to fund Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

After winning his freedom in one court case, Khalil almost immediately returned to a protest against Israel.

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‘Epstein is a CIA op’: How far up does the scandal REALLY go?

While just a few days ago the Trump administration told Americans that the case was closed on the Epstein investigation, a newly released FOIA request by Judicial Watch shows that the DOJ and FBI are still investigating Jeffrey Epstein.

“Is this a play? Is the DOJ still investigating Jeffrey Epstein, and maybe this is why they’re making the decisions that they are?” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales speculates, noting that as far back as February 2025, Judicial Watch filed three separate FOIA requests for records depicting the identities of clients or associates of Epstein.

Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department and FBI in April 2025 after they failed to respond all three times. Their delayed response came on July 7, and they claimed that “the FBI’s search efforts are ongoing.”

Gonzales is skeptical.

“It’s like, okay, did you guys have a bunch of documents deleted that you’re still looking for? Because if that’s the case, can you just tell us?” she says, to which BlazeTV contributor Jaco Booyens responds with his own theory.

“The CIA is who’s being protected here. The whole Epstein operation from the get-go is a CIA op — from Robert Maxwell to Ghislaine Maxwell. Jeffrey was a target. Robert handled Jeffrey. Robert gets killed on his yacht, gets thrown overboard. This is a CIA op,” Booyens tells Gonzales.

“With the breadth of information, of national intelligence, of people involved that they will never, never release,” he continues.

Booyens, who has been fighting human trafficking through Jaco Booyens Ministries, is well aware that Epstein’s conviction as a human trafficker means “he sold people to people for sex.”

“So to tell me,” he continues, “as a 31-year veteran expert in this, that Epstein and Maxwell had no clients is dead on its face.”

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