US Authorities Prevent Detained Pro-Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil from Embracing New-Born Son

On Wednesday, officials from ICE and the private prison contractor GEO Group reportedly denied Khalil, a former Columbia University student and well-known anti-Israel protest organizer, the opportunity to contact his family, including holding his newborn son. This denial came despite repeated pleas from his legal team, according to statements from his lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Following an exhausting journey spanning over a thousand miles to Louisiana with their newborn son on his inaugural flight, the father was denied the opportunity to embrace his child, according to a statement by Noor Abdalla via the ACLU. She described the decision by ICE as more than just heartless, alleging it represents a deliberate act of violence and calculated cruelty by the government, one that callously separates families without a trace of remorse.

She expressed her strong anger, denouncing what she described as the cruelty and inhumanity of a system that claims to be just.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States, was apprehended on March 8 at his apartment in New York. Currently, he is being held in Louisiana. He previously held a prominent role as the lead negotiator for the Columbia University Apartheid Divest campaign (CUAD).

Khalil’s legal representatives, alongside the American Civil Liberties Union, assert that the denial of a contact visit with his family stems from an overarching no-contact visitation policy enforced at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center (CLIPC). This decision is also purportedly influenced by unspecified ‘security concerns’ related to the presence of a mother and newborn in an unsecured area of the facility.

The Trump administration has accused Khalil of backing the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement and committing immigration fraud. His legal team, however, has challenged these claims, describing them as baseless and politically driven.

In a heartfelt letter dated May 11 to his newborn son, Khalil expressed the shared anguish among Palestinian fathers, saying, “My absence is not unique. Similar to others, I have been separated by oppressive regimes and remote prisons. In Palestine, this suffering is a daily reality. The grief that your mother and I endure is just a single drop in an ocean of sorrow that has engulfed Palestinian families for generations.”

Khalil, originally from a Palestinian family and born in a Syrian refugee camp, was represented by his wife at an alternative graduation ceremony in New York on Sunday. During the event, she accepted his diploma while holding their infant son.

The detention of the individual has ignited protests and raised concerns among free speech advocates, who assert he is being unjustly targeted due to his activism. His legal representatives argue that the Trump administration is employing seldom-used legal provisions to facilitate his deportation, despite the absence of criminal charges against him.