Detained Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil was permitted to hold his one-month-old son for the first time on Thursday after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep Khalil and his newborn separated by a plexiglass screen.
The new father met his son in the lead-up to an immigration hearing set to determine if he can remain in the U.S.
U.S. protesters demand release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil
Khalil, a permanent resident in the United States, has been held at a Louisiana detention centre since March 8.
He was the first person to be detained in Trump’s clampdown on pro-Palestinian activists, but is one of a select few yet to be released from custody.
Fellow Columbia student and protester, Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, was the first to be released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being arrested by the authorities in Colchester, Vt., while attending a citizenship interview on April 14. The government claimed that his activism posed a threat to national security.
Khalil has not been accused of or charged with any crimes, but is being held for his prominent role in last spring’s Columbia University campus protests — despite not having taken part in the encampments over fears that it would impact his legal status in the country. Nonetheless — similar to Mahdawi — federal authorities say his involvement may have compromised U.S. foreign policy interests.
Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil (C) talks to the press during the press briefing organized by pro-Palestinian protesters who set up a new encampment at Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus on Friday evening, in New York City, United States on June 1, 2024.
Selcuk Acar / Getty Images
Khalil’s request to attend the birth of his son on April 21 was denied within hours by U.S. immigration authorities and the question of whether Khalil would be permitted to hold his child or forced to meet him through a barrier had sparked days of legal fighting, triggering claims by his lawyers that he is being subjected to political retaliation by the government.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after blocking Columbia University library
On Wednesday night, New Jersey federal judge Michael Farbiarz stepped in and allowed the in-person meeting to go ahead on Thursday morning, without a screen.
The judge’s order came after federal officials said this week they would oppose his lawyer’s effort to secure a “contact visit” between Khalil, his wife, Noor Abdalla, and their son Deen.
They said Khalil could be granted a “non-contact” visit, meaning he would be separated from his family by a divider and prohibited from touching them.
“Granting Khalil this relief of family visitation would effectively grant him a privilege that no other detainee receives,” Justice Department officials wrote in a court filing on Wednesday. “Allowing Dr. Abdalla and a newborn to attend a legal meeting would turn a legal visitation into a family one.”
Meanwhile, in a separate filing, Brian Acuna, acting director of the ICE field office in New Orleans, said it would be “unsafe to allow Mr. Khalil’s wife and newborn child into a secured part of the facility.”
Khalil’s legal team said the government’s denial of the visit was “further evidence of the retaliatory motive behind Mr. Khalil’s arrest and faraway detention,” arguing that his wife and baby were “the farthest thing from a security risk.”
They noted that Abdalla had travelled nearly 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometres) to the remote detention centre in hopes of introducing their son to his father.
“This is not just heartless,” Abdalla said of the government’s position. “It is deliberate violence, the calculated cruelty of a government that tears families apart without remorse.”
Farbiarz is considering Khalil’s petition for release as he appeals Louisiana immigration judge Jamee Coman’s ruling that he can be deported from the U.S. to either the Syrian refugee camp where he grew up or Algeria, where he holds citizenship through a distant relative.
On Thursday, Khalil appeared before Coman as his lawyers gave arguments about the risks he would face if he were to be deported.
His team submitted testimony from Columbia University faculty members and fellow students speaking to Khalil’s character.
In one testimony, Joseph Howley, a Columbia classics professor, described Khalil as an “upstanding, principled, and well-respected member of our community.’
“I have never known Mahmoud to espouse any anti-Jewish sentiments or prejudices, and have heard him forcefully reject antisemitism on multiple occasions,” Howley wrote.
No ruling was made regarding the appeal on Thursday, instead, Comans gave lawyers until 5 p.m. on June 2 to submit written closing arguments.
Columbia’s interim president, Claire Shipman, acknowledged Mahmoud’s absence from Wednesday’s commencement ceremony and said many students were “mourning” that he couldn’t be present. Her speech drew loud boos from some graduates, along with chants of “free Mahmoud.”
— with files from The Associated Press