Khalil is the Columbia College graduate scholar who the Trump administration is searching for to deport for his function in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia College graduate scholar who the Trump administration is searching for to deport for his function in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, has known as himself a “political prisoner” in his first direct feedback since his arrest.
Khalil, the Palestinian scholar activist, was arrested on March 8 by the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) after he and his pregnant spouse, Noor Abdalla – an American citizen – returned from a dinner.
In a letter made public on Tuesday, Khalil decried his arrest and the circumstances going through detainees in United States immigration services.
“My identify is Mahmoud Khalil and I’m a political prisoner. I’m writing to you from a detention facility in Louisiana, the place I wake to chilly mornings and spend lengthy days bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway towards an incredible many individuals precluded from the protections of the legislation,” Khalil wrote. He added that “the brokers threatened to arrest her [Noor] for not leaving my facet”.
He was taken into custody with out a warrant, and the DHS brokers withheld particulars about his arrest, in keeping with footage of the arrest that was made public by his household final Friday.
In his letter, Khalil wrote, “DHS wouldn’t inform me something … I didn’t know the reason for my arrest or if I used to be going through speedy deportation.”
His lawyer Amy Greer stated Khalil is a lawful everlasting US resident. Specialists have underscored it’s uncommon for inexperienced card holders to be threatened with deportation, besides in circumstances of great crimes.
In April 2024, college students throughout the US mobilised to demand an finish to their universities’ complicity in Israel’s conflict on Gaza.
Demonstrations at Columbia College in New York drew significantly shut media consideration owing to the dimensions of the protests.
Trump’s fierce response
The Trump administration has accused Khalil, who performed a key function in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the college final 12 months, of participating in actions aligned with Hamas, although no proof has been offered.
Donald Trump has accused scholar protesters from Columbia College of collaborating in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American exercise”. Once more, no proof has been provided to help the claims.
Khalil stated his arrest was a direct results of his activism for a free Palestine and an finish to Israeli violence in Gaza.
“My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my proper to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an finish to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full pressure Monday night time,” he wrote within the letter.
Khalil additionally drew parallels between his state of affairs and the usage of administrative detention by Israel, the place Palestinians are sometimes imprisoned with out trial or cost.
“For Palestinians, imprisonment with out due course of is commonplace.”
He refused to be compelled into silence and stated “it’s our ethical crucial to persist within the wrestle for his or her full freedom”.
“I hope nonetheless to be free to witness the beginning of my first-born baby.”
