March 17, 2025
Kristin Hunt/PhillyVoice
Protesters at City Hall decry the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, an activist who protested against the war in Gaza, saying it threatens the free speech of all Americans.
A couple hundred people crowded outside City Hall on Monday evening to protest the detention and possible deportation of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
The demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and many people were wearing keffiyehs. State Sen. Nikil Saval, D-1, led chants of "stand up, fight back." Protesters carried numerous signs including those that read "Democracy dies when people start getting disappeared" and "Protesting against genocide is not a crime!"
Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate who participated in campus protests against the war in Gaza, was detained by federal officials outside his New York home on March 8. Federal agents later transported him to a detention center in Louisiana, despite Khalil not being charged with any crime.
Though agents initially claimed they were revoking Khalil's student visa, he does not have one. Khalil, who was born in Syria, holds a green card as a permanent legal resident of the United States. He also is married to an American citizen, Noor Abdalla, who is eight months pregnant with the couple's first child.
Absent any criminal charges, Khalil's detention has been widely perceived as punishment for his activism.
"Mahmoud Khalil being taken into custody simply for exercising what we consider his free speech rights is not just a threat to people with certain political views," Jonny Rashid, a Mennonite pastor and spokesperson for the Philadelphia protest, said in a phone interview before the demonstration. "It is a threat to every American that their free speech rights could be taken, too."
Rashid organizes with Mennonite Action, one of at least 27 groups that joined the City Hall demonstration. The coalition included other faith-based organizations, and labor and immigration advocates, too. Many groups that protested locally for a ceasefire in Gaza also joined. The AFL-CIO, New Sanctuary Movement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Philadelphia, Asian Americans United, IfNotNow Philadelphia, Philly Palestine Coalition, Rabbis for Ceasefire and the Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America all participated in the action.
Kristin Hunt/PhillyVoiceA couple hundred people gathered outside City Hall on Monday to protest the detention and possible deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, an activist involved in the protests against the war in Gaza at Columbia University.
Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, the executive director of CAIR Philadelphia, was among the speakers who addressed the crowd. He said has a lot in common with Khalil.
"I had to have a conversation with my wife like he did a few days before he was arrested," Tekelioglu said. "I'm a green card holder in a public role working for a Muslim civil rights organization. Because he is the test case, I'm wondering whether he's able to fast in ICE custody. I'm wondering how his wife is doing, how this pregnancy is going. And I worry and wonder what will come next for me, for those around us.
"... We should be clear-eyed that ICE's injustices didn't start yesterday or with Mahmoud. It didn't start with this administration. And we need to be clear-eyed to stand with one another."
Rashid said he sees the broad coalition of groups "from across the political spectrum that don't always agree about everything" as a strength. Featured speakers at the rally came from Islamic, Jewish, Palestinian and Christian backgrounds.
"I would encourage people not to make this an issue that's strictly about Israel and Palestine, but about the greater threats to our collective civil liberties," Rashid said. "When one of us is oppressed, we all are. Our liberation and our freedom are linked together."
Many of the protesting groups also signed an open letter calling on elected officials to respond to the federal government's crackdown on Khalil and other immigrants. It asks politicians to do "all they can to publicly oppose efforts to deport Mr. Khalil," as well as "stand against the attacks targeting immigrants and efforts to expand detention" and support local organizations that the Trump administration "targets in the form of budget cuts to grants, or direct weaponization of government agencies." The missive had about 50 signatories as of Monday afternoon.
Rashid would like to see a clear condemnation from U.S. Reps. Dwight Evans, D-3, and Brendan Boyle, D-2, he said, as well as Sens. Dave McCormick (R) and John Fetterman (D). (Evans signed a letter to the heads of the state and homeland security departments expressing "grave concern" over Khalil's detention.) He also said he hopes to see Mayor Cherelle Parker, a Democrat, and City Council speak "more assertively and more openly" about federal abuses of power. While he believes the mayor and many others in City Hall share the same values as his coalition, Rashid said he believes now is a time for clarity.
"(Mennonites) have largely been people that don't get involved in political affairs," Rashid said. "But that the repression of the U.S. government has been so clear that we feel like it's time to take a stand."
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