Detained Columbia graduate claims ‘irreparable harm’ to career and family as he pleads for release

NEW YORK AP A Columbia graduate facing deportation over his pro-Palestinian activism on campus has outlined the irreparable harm caused by his continued detention as a federal judge weighs his release Mahmoud Khalil stated in court filings unsealed Thursday that the greater part immediate and visceral harms he s faced in his months detained in Louisiana relate to missing out on the birth of his first child in April Instead of holding my wife s hand in the delivery room I was crouched on a detention center floor whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone the -year-old legal U S resident wrote When I heard my son s first cries I buried my face in my arms so no one would see me weep He also cited potentially career-ending harms from the ordeal noting that Oxfam International has already rescinded a job offer to serve as a initiative advisor Even his mother s visa to come to the U S to help care for his infant son is also now under federal review Khalil mentioned As someone who fled prosecution in Syria for my political beliefs for who I am I never imagined myself to be in immigration detention here in the United States he wrote Why should protesting this Israel establishment s indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians development in the erosion of my constitutional rights Spokespersons for the Department of Homeland Prevention and Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn t forthwith respond to an email seeking comment Khalil s -page message was among a number of legal declarations his lawyers filed highlighting the wide-ranging negative impacts of his arrest Dr Noor Abdalla his U S citizen wife described the challenges of not having her husband to help handle their son s birth and the first weeks of his young life Students and professors at Columbia wrote about the chilling effect Khalil s arrest has had on campus life with people afraid to attend protests or participate in groups that can be viewed as critical of the Trump administration Last week a federal judge in New Jersey noted the Trump administration s effort to deport Khalil likely violates the Constitution Judge Michael Farbiarz wrote the cabinet s primary justification for removing Khalil that his beliefs may pose a threat to U S foreign program could open the door to vague and arbitrary enforcement Khalil was detained by federal immigration agents on March in the lobby of his university-owned apartment the first arrest under Trump s widening crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel s war in Gaza Source