Detained Colombian activist's wife says her husband has been denied release due to the birth of his son
NEW YORK (AP) — The wife of detained Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil accused federal immigration officials of intentional denying asking her husband to attend the birth of their first child in order to make the family suffer.
Noor Abdalla said in a statement that she had to have a baby boy on Monday without her husband. She said the ICE has refused a request for temporary release from a detention center in Louisiana so that he can travel to New York to have a baby.
“It was a purposeful decision to suffer from the ice, Mahmoud and our son,” Abdullah said in the statement, adding that her husband was detained “unjustly”.
She added: “The Ice and Trump administration has stole these precious moments from our families in an attempt to silence Mahmoud’s support for Palestinian freedom.”
ICE officials left a message seeking comment.
Khalil, a legal American resident and graduate student, served as a spokesperson for campus activist during a major demonstration in Colombia last year as a spokesperson for Colombia’s campaign for Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the war in Gaza.
The federal government believes that Khalil is a national security risk. An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled earlier this month that the administration asserted that Khalil's presence in the United States raised “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” to meet the demand for deportation.
A lawyer for Khalil said the ruling would appeal to the Immigration Commission.
