Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, filed a $20 million (over €17 million) claim Thursday against the Trump administration, arguing he was wrongly imprisoned.

Khalil, a legal US resident, was arrested in March after President Donald Trump vowed to deport foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement at US college campuses this year.

He was held in an immigration detention center in Louisiana for three months before his release in June, which came just hours after a judge ordered him to be granted bail.

"I hope this would serve as a deterrent for the administration," Khalil told the Reuters news agency. "Trump made it clear he only understands the language of money."

The claim alleges Khalil was the victim of "malicious prosecution and abuse of process, false arrest, false imprisonment and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress," according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is supporting the Columbia graduate.

The center states the Trump administration illegally arrested, detained and planned to deport Khalil "in a manner calculated to terrorize him and his family."

It adds that his mistreatment by US authorities is causing "severe emotional distress, economic hardship, damage to his reputation, and significant impairment of his First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights."

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security called Khalil's claim "absurd" and accused him of "hateful behavior and rhetoric" that threatened Jewish students in the US.

Khalil was one of the leaders of student-led protests against Israel's war in the Gaza Strip.

The White House had said Khalil was a national security threat who had engaged in "antisemitic activities" with his criticism of Israel.

The Trump administration has said Khalil's deportation is justified because of "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences" if he remains in the US.

Khalil, who is an Algerian national born in Syria, said the claim filed on Thursday 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 said.

"There must be accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power," Khalil added.

Khalil said he would also accept an official apology and a pledge to stop targeting pro-Palestinian speech with arrests, detention or deportation instead of the money.

Edited by: Louis Oelofse