Columbia student activist seized by ICE agents holds month-old son for first time after 10 weeks of detention
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student activist who was arrested by federal agents for his role leading pro-Palestine demonstrations on campus, met his month-old son for the first time before a crucial immigration court hearing on Thursday.
Khalil has been imprisoned in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in Louisiana for more than two months while he is . His wife Noor Abdalla gave birth on April 21.
In his testimony in immigration court, Khalil said his removal from the country could lead to his “assassination, kidnapping, torture” and endanger his wife and son.
“This is truly unlawful, what is happening to me,” he said. “I believe that justice will prevail.”
Donald Trump’s administration initially denied Khalil a chance to see his wife and son under a no-contact policy from ICE officials and the private prison group that runs the detention facility, citing unspecified “safety concerns” surrounding their visit.
A federal judge eventually intervened, granting them permission for a “single, joint meeting … under conditions (including as to length of time and confidentiality) that are appropriate for a substantial attorney-client meeting.”
Attorneys for Khalil confirmed the visit to The Independent on Thursday morning.
Khalil was stripped of his green card and arrested in front of his then-pregnant wife in their New York City apartment building on March 8. He was sent to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, roughly 1,300 miles away from their home in New York.
Court filings show his attorneys repeatedly requested permission from ICE for his temporary release to be present for his child’s birth, which they denied. Khalil was “open to any combination of conditions,” including wearing an ankle monitor.
On April 11, Louisiana immigration judge Jamee Comans determined Khalil can be deported from the United States based on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s claim that Khalil’s Palestinian advocacy presents a threat to U.S. foreign policy. Judge Comans called the government’s argument “facially reasonable.”
Khalil’s arrest has sparked international outrage and fears that the Trump administration is crushing political dissent against Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza and U.S. support. Rubio has revoked hundreds of student visas over campus activism, leading to several high-profile arrests of international scholars.
The administration has accused Khalil of “antisemitic activities” and supporting Hamas, which he has flatly rejected. Officials concede he has not committed any crime, but claim he can be removed over what Rubio has characterized as “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
Officials have “mislabeled me a terrorist, a terrorist sympathizer, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” Khalil told the court on Thursday.
A two-page memorandum submitted to the immigration court as evidence for his removal admitted his protest activities were “lawful” but argued that letting him stay in the country would undermine “U.S. policy to combat antisemitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.”
