Congressman Mamdani stood by anti-Israeli activist Mahmoud Khalil, calling his deportation an attack on free speech and political expression as the case sparks national debate in the United States.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posts on social media in support of anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, after a judge yesterday overruled a block on the Trump administration’s effort to deport him.

“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression; it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” Mamdani writes on X. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free—and must remain free.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sought to deport Khalil, an Algerian national who holds permanent resident status in the US, on the basis that letting him remain in the country would undermine “US policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.”

Khalil, who graduated from Columbia University last spring, was affiliated with Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a student coalition that has endorsed violence, called for “the total eradication of Western civilization,” backed the October 7 attack, applauded US-designated terror groups, distributed Hamas propaganda at a university library, and supported an activist imprisoned for assaulting Jewish Columbia students.

In interviews, however, Khalil has personally condemned the targeting of civilians, including during the October 7 attack.

Mamdani was a vocal supporter of Khalil during the recent mayoral election. The democratic-socialist mayor has a history of anti-Israel activism. Jewish groups have accused him of tolerating violent rhetoric and antisemitism from inside his political camp.