CONCORD, N.H. — A Palestinian activist who was detained for more than three months pushed his infant son’s stroller with one hand and pumped his fist in the air with the other as supporters welcomed him home Saturday.

Mahmoud Khalil greeted friends and spoke briefly to reporters Saturday at New Jersey’s Newark International Airport a day after leaving a federal immigration facility in Louisiana. A former Columbia University graduate student and symbol of President Donald Trump’s clampdown on campus protests, he vowed to continue protesting Israel’s war in Gaza.

“The U.S. government is funding this genocide, and Columbia University is investing in this genocide,” he said. “This is why I will continue to protest with everyone of you. Not only if they threaten me with detention. Even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine.”

Khalil, a legal U.S. resident whose wife gave birth during his detention, said he also will speak up for the immigrants he left behind in the detention center.

“Whether you are a citizen, an immigrant, anyone in this land, you’re not illegal. That doesn’t make you less of a human,” he said.

The international affairs student wasn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. However, the government has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the U.S. for expressing views the administration considers to be antisemitic and “pro-Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Khalil, 30, was released after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be “highly, highly unusual” for the government to continue detaining a legal resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn’t been accused of any violence. The government filed notice Friday that it is appealing Khalil’s release.

Joining Khalil at the airport, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said his detention violated the First Amendment and was “an affront to every American.”

“He has been accused, baselessly, of horrific allegations simply because the Trump administration and our overall establishment disagrees with his political speech,” she said.

Gaza aid group: An American-led group has asked the Trump administration to step in with an initial $30 million so it can continue its much scrutinized, Israeli- backed aid distribution in Gaza, according to three U.S. officials and the organization’s application for the money.

That application, obtained by The Associated Press, includes a projection of a $150 million monthly budget once the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s current aid sites fully gear up — an amount equal to $1.8 billion a year.

The foundation says it has provided millions of meals in southern Gaza since late May to Palestinians as Israel’s blockade and military campaign have driven the Gaza to the brink of famine.

But the effort has seen near-daily fatal shootings of Palestinians trying to reach the distribution sites. Major humanitarian groups also accuse the foundation of cooperating with Israel’s objectives in the 20-month-old war against Hamas in a way that violates humanitarian principles.

Two of the officials said they were told the administration has decided to award the money.