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Former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was abducted by immigration officials for his activism against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, was barred from attending the birth of his firstborn child on Monday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials denied his request for temporary release.
The day before Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, gave birth to their son — eight days earlier than her projected due date — Abdalla and Khalil’s lawyers had requested that Khalil, who is currently imprisoned at an immigration jail in Louisiana, be allowed to travel to New York to be present for the birth and in the days immediately afterward.
In their email to ICE, Khalil’s lawyers stated that they would have agreed to any monitoring conditions in order for him to be present with Abdulla and their newborn son, including an ankle monitor and scheduled check-ins.
“A two-week furlough in this civil detention matter would be both reasonable and humane so that both parents can be present for the birth of their first child,” their email stated.
ICE denied the request less than an hour after it was made.
Shortly after she gave birth, Abdalla released a statement condemning the denial of Khalil’s request, saying it “was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer.”
“Mahmoud remains unjustly detained in an ICE detention center over 1,000 miles away from his firstborn child,” Abdulla said. “My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud. ICE and the Trump administration have stolen these precious moments from our family in an attempt to silence Mahmoud’s support for Palestinian freedom.”
She added:
I will continue to fight every day for Mahmoud to come home to us. I know when Mahmoud is freed, he will show our son how to be brave, thoughtful, and compassionate, just like his dad.
Khalil, a Palestinian student who graduated from Columbia last year, was a lead organizer of the student encampments last spring that called for the university to divest from Israel’s genocide. This March, Khalil was detained by immigration officials in his New York residence, then transferred to Louisiana, where he remains today.
Utilizing a little-known power of his office, Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked Khalil’s green card status, baselessly claiming that Khalil was a danger to the United States and that his support for Palestinian liberation was somehow a national security risk. An immigration judge in Louisiana agreed with Rubio’s arguments earlier this month. Khalil’s legal team is likely to appeal that decision later this week.
Khalil has spoken out against his detention, writing in an open letter last week that the denial of his civil liberties should spark widespread outcry and resistance from the public.
“I think about the breakneck speed with which my case was heard and decided, running roughshod over due process,” Khalil wrote in his letter, adding:
Why should protesting Israel’s indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians result in the erosion of my constitutional rights?
“I write this letter as the sun rises, hoping that the suspension of my rights will raise alarm bells that yours are already in jeopardy,” Khalil said. “I hope it will inspire your outrage that the most basic human instinct, to protest shameless massacre, is being repressed by obscure laws, racist propaganda and a state terrified of an awakened public.”
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