Mahmoud Khalil was greeted by his wife, Noor Abdalla, at Newark International Airport.(AP: Seth Wenig)
After being released from immigration detention, Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil says Donald Trump's administration is trying to dehumanise anyone who disagrees with it.
Mr Khalil says the Trump administration and Columbia University, where he protested, are complicit in Israel's actions in Gaza.
The US government still wants to deport Mr Khalil, a permanent US resident, arguing his activism is detrimental to American foreign policy interests.
Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil says he will continue to protest against what he calls US government-funded genocide in Gaza.
Speaking the day after he wasreleased from immigration detention, he said Donald Trump's administration was trying to dehumanise anyone who disagreed with it.
Mr Khalil said the Trump administration and Colombia University, where he protested, were complicit in Israel's actions in Gaza.
"Not only if they threaten me with detention, even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine again," Mr Khalil said.
"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."
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Mr Khalil's detention is "an affront to every American".(AP: Seth Wenig)
Mr Khalil, 30, was reunited with his wife Noor Abdalla, a US citizen, at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon.
He was met by friends and supporters, including US Democratic congresswomanAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The US government still wants to deport Mr Khalil, a permanent US resident, arguing his activism is detrimental to American foreign policy interests.
Mr 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 Mr Trump's effort to deport international students with pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel views.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez, speaking alongside Mr Khalil at the airport, condemned the Trump administration for what she called "persecution based on political speech".
"Being taken is wrong. It is illegal," she said.
"It is an affront to every American."
Mr Khalil was born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and lawfully became a permanent US resident last year.
Nonetheless, citing an obscure part of federal immigration law that has not been invoked in more than 20 years, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had determined that Mr Khalil and several other foreign pro-Palestinian students at US schools must be deported because their presence could harm the government's foreign policy interests.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, said the government wrongly conflated their criticism of the Israeli government, one of the United States' closest allies, with antisemitism.
This month, US District Judge Michael Farbiarz in New Jersey ruled that the government could not detain or deport Mr Khalil based on Mr Rubio's determination, finding the Trump administration was violating Mr Khalil's constitutional right to free speech.
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On Friday, he ordered the Trump administration to release Mr Khalil on bail while he continues to fight the government's deportation efforts and his lawsuit accusing the government of wrongful detention.
A spokesperson for Mr Trump said in a statement after the ruling that Mr Khalil should be deported for "conduct detrimental to American foreign policy interests" and for omitting or incorrectly describing his employment history on his application form to become a permanent resident.
Mr Khalil has said his application form was correct and the allegations of omission were spurious.
Also on Friday, an immigration court in Louisiana ruled that Mr Khalil must be deported.
He will now challenge the decision in the immigration court, which is run by the Department of Justice rather than the government's judicial branch, through the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The Trump administration appealed Judge Farbiarz's rulings on Friday evening to the US Court of Appeals.
Occupied Palestinian Territories