Mahmoud Khalil Holds Newborn Son for First Time after Federal Judge Ruling

May 23, 2025 News
Columbia student activist, Mahmoud Khalil, was permitted to hold his newborn son for the first time. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The meeting took place after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep a visit to Khalil from his wife.

Columbia student activist, Mahmoud Khalil, was permitted to hold his newborn son for the first time on Thursday since he was detained by immigration officials more than two months ago.

The meeting took place after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep a visit to Khalil from his wife, Dr Noor Abdalla, and son, Deen, to a “non-contact” visit, “meaning he would be separated from his wife and son by a plastic divider and not allowed to touch them,” the Guardian reported.

“Mahmoud and Dr. Abdalla and baby Dean had their first opportunity since Dean’s birth to be all together in one place,” Ramzi Kassem, a member of Khalil’s legal team, told Democracy Now in an interview.

“And it’s really unfortunate that this administration forced us to go and get a federal court order to make that most basic human moment possible,” he added.

Kassem explained that Khalil was in immigration detention “that’s supposed to be civil detention, supposed to be non-punitive.”

“In a civil detention, non-punitive setting, the fact that the government was insisting on a no contact was nothing short of cruel,” the legal representative said.

Kassem said it was “really unfortunate that we had to go get a court order for this legal meeting to happen in a way where Dr. Abdalla could discuss and meet with Mr. Khalil and with their baby in a way where they could hold each other for the first time since Mahmoud’s unconstitutional detention.”

Alleged ‘Security Risk’

In a court filing on Wednesday, US Justice Department officials had reportedly said that “Granting Khalil this relief of family visitation would effectively grant him a privilege that no other detainee receives.”

“Allowing Dr Abdalla and a newborn to attend a legal meeting would turn a legal visitation into a family one,” they noted.

In an accompanying affidavit from 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 attorneys, in their legal filings, described the government’s refusal to grant the visit as “further evidence of the retaliatory motive behind Mr Khalil’s arrest and faraway detention”, the Guardian reported. The attorneys added that Khalil’s wife and son were “the farthest thing from a security risk”.

They noted that she had traveled “nearly 1,500 miles (2,400km) to the remote detention center in hopes of introducing their son to his father,” the report added.

‘Cruelty and Inhumanity’

Dr. Abdalla slammed “the cruelty and inhumanity of this system that dares to call itself just.”

She said that after flying “over a thousand miles to Louisiana with our newborn son, his very first flight, all so his father could finally hold him in his arms, ICE has denied us even this most basic human right,” she said.

“This is not just heartless. It is deliberate violence, the calculated cruelty of a government that tears families apart without remorse,” Dr. Abdallah stated, adding that, “Our struggle is not isolated. This system is unjust, and we will fight until Mahmoud is home.”

On Wednesday night, a federal judge in New Jersey, Michael Farbiarz, intervened “allowing the meeting” to proceed on Thursday morning.

Last month, ICE denied Khalil’s request to be present at the birth of his son.

Campus Protests

Khalil, a Columbia graduate student and lawful permanent resident of the US was detained from his home in a Columbia residential apartment building in New York City on March 8. He was transported to Louisiana where he is being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.

Mahmoud Khalil Speaks from ICE Detention: ‘I Am a Political Prisoner’

The arrest of Khalil, a key figure in campus protests against Israel’s military onslaught on Gaza, was the first following the signing of executive orders by President Donald Trump aimed at students who, he claimed “have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”

Two Cases

According to CLEAR (Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility), a legal platform involved in the matter, Khalil has two legal cases: immigration and federal.

In the immigration case, a Louisiana judge recently ruled that Khalil “is deportable.”

Judge Rules Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported from US, Cites Foreign Policy Threat

“This decision came less than 48 hours after the U.S. government handed over ‘evidence’ they have on Mahmoud,” the CLEAR website states.

“This included nothing more than a letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that made clear Mahmoud had not committed a crime,” it notes.

‘Constitutionality’ Challenged

In his federal case, Khalil “is challenging the constitutionality of his detention and fighting for the right to free speech.”

“Most recently, a federal judge from NJ ruled that Mahmoud’s lawsuit against ICE must proceed in NJ, rejecting Trump officials’ efforts to transfer the case to Louisiana, where he remains detained,” ICE states.

Deportation Appeal

On Thursday, Khalil appeared before immigration judge, Jamee Comans, as his legal team presented testimony “about the risks he would face if he were to be deported to Syria, where he grew up in a refugee camp, or Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative,” the Guardian reported.

Khalil’s attorneys also submitted testimony from Columbia University faculty and students “attesting to Khalil’s character.”

‘Trump, I am Not Afraid’ – US Court Frees Columbia Student Activist Mohsen Mahdawi

No ruling was made regarding the appeal and lawyers were given until June 2 to submit written closing arguments.

Two other students, Mohsen Mahdawi and Rumeysa Ozturk, who were detained after Khalil’s arrest have subsequently been released.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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2 Comments

  1. He was a peaceful negotiator, who kept the peace at peaceful protests, and he wasn’t allowed to be there for the birth of his son, after being kidnapped by the Jack Boots. I don’t remember ANY of the protesters from BLM or Antifa being treated this way, even after they burned down entire cities; looted, rioted, caused untold damage to properties, hurt white people, killed people…Trump and his entire administration are an embarrassment. But who is telling them to do all this? Clearly this is all scripted and they’re all actors just like Trump. History will remember what they did. And how many of them work for the CIA or DARPA?

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