On Sunday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani welcomed Mahmoud Khalil, a contentious anti-Israel activist, along with his wife and young son, to Gracie Mansion in observance of Ramadan.
“Last night, as we commemorated the one-year anniversary of his detention, Rama and I were privileged to host Mahmoud, Noor, and their son Deen at Gracie Mansion to break our fast together,” Mamdani shared in an Instagram post on Monday.
The post featured a photograph of the gathering, depicting Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, holding a plate of food, while Khalil, seated nearby, enjoyed his meal.
Khalil, originally from Syria and a former graduate student at Columbia University, was detained by ICE early last year. He is currently facing deportation after allegations by the Trump administration that he committed fraud in his green card application.
The Trump administration asserts that Khalil is affiliated with Hamas and is invoking an infrequently used statute that permits the deportation of noncitizens if their beliefs are considered a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.
“This past year has been a period of significant hardship for Mahmoud Khalil, yet he has demonstrated remarkable courage,” Mamdani expressed in his social media update on Monday.
“And yet, even in the face of that cruelty, there has also been beauty. New Yorkers raising their voices in solidarity. A city refusing to look away. Mahmoud won his freedom, and a father was finally reunited with his child,” the mayor continued.
“Mahmoud is a New Yorker, and he belongs in New York City,” Hizzoner declared.
Mamdani has been a vocal defender of Khalil, who spent three months in a Louisiana federal lockup before a three-judge panel in New Jersey ruled in June that he should have been allowed to work through the immigration process.
“I see this attack on him as part of a larger attack on the freedom of speech that is especially pronounced when it comes to the use of that speech to stand up for policy to human rights,” the mayor said at an unrelated press conference in January.
