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Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, who is now eight months pregnant, issued a statement on Tuesday night after the Columbia University graduate student and activist was arrested in New York by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) as part of the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke his green card and have him deported.
“I am pleading with the world to continue to speak up against his unjust and horrific detention by the Trump administration,” Khalil’s wife, who is a US citizen, said in her statement, remaining anonymous for fear of harassment.
She spoke out about the dramatic incident after Khalil was taken away in handcuffs in front of her on Saturday night, when law enforcement intercepted them as they were about to enter their residence in university housing. He was taken downtown, then to New Jersey and then flown to Ice detention in Louisiana. A court hearing on his case is due in Manhattan on Wednesday.
Khalil was the lead negotiator between protesters and Columbia University officials last spring for the Gaza solidarity encampment set up on campus in Manhattan by pro-Palestinian activists and allies.
Donald Trump called Khalil’s arrest “the first of many to come” aimed at protesters of Israel’s war in Gaza and claimed, without evidence, that many similar activists are “paid agitators.”
Khalil completed his graduate studies at Columbia this past December and is due to graduate from his master’s program this May.
The attempt to revoke Khalil’s green card which allows him permanent residency in the US, and his arrest by the authorities, citing support for terrorism, has incited outrage and protests. Free speech organizations have called the arrest an extreme attack on his first amendment rights that “reeks” of McCarthyism.
Khalil’s wife said in her statement: “On March 8, at around 8.30pm, as we were returning home from an Iftar dinner, an Ice officer followed us into our building and asked, ‘Are you Mahmoud Khalil?’ Mahmoud stated Yes.” Iftar is the meal eaten at sunset when Muslims break their daily fast during Ramadan.
She continued: “The officer then proceeded to say ‘We are with the police, you have to come with us.’ The officer told Mahmoud to give me the apartment keys and that I could go upstairs. When I refused, afraid to leave my husband, the officer stated ‘I will arrest you, too.’ The officers later barricaded Mahmoud from me.”
She said they were not shown any warrant “and the Ice officers hung up the phone on our lawyer”. She said they cooperated fully and her husband remained calm, even though it was terrifying and traumatizing.
“Within minutes, they had handcuffed Mahmoud, took him out into the street and forced him into an unmarked car,” she said.
Khalil’s wife said that the lead-up to the arrest had also been “a nightmare”.
“Six days ago, an intense and targeted doxing campaign against Mahmoud began. Anti-Palestinian organizations were spreading false claims about my husband that were simply not based in reality. They were making threats against Mahmoud and he was so concerned about his safety that he emailed Columbia University on March 7,” she said.
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Her statement added: “In his email, he begged the university for legal support, ‘I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that Ice or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support and I urge you to intervene,’ he said in his email. Columbia University never responded to that email,” she said.
A request for comment has been sent to the university.
Khalil was among several students at the elite private Ivy League college being investigated by a newly created university committee looking into students who have been critical of Israel, amid accusations of antisemitism on campus during protests against Israel’s military response to the attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 led by Hamas from Gaza, the Palestinian territory it controls.
“I have around 13 allegations against me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with,” Khalil said last week.
His wife said on Tuesday: “Instead of putting together our nursery and washing baby clothes in anticipation of our first child, I am left sitting in our apartment, wondering when Mahmoud will get a chance to call me from a detention center. I demand the US government release him, reinstate his green card, and bring him home.”
She added: “I was born and raised in the midwest. My parents came here from Syria, carrying their stories of the oppressive regime there that made life unlivable. They believed living in the US would bring a sense of safety and stability. But here I am, 40 years after my parents immigrated here, and just weeks before I’m due to give birth to our first child, and I feel more unsafe and unstable than I have in my entire life. US immigration ripped my soul from me when they handcuffed my husband and forced him into an unmarked vehicle.”
Federal judge Jesse Furman on Monday blocked Khalil’s deportation and scheduled a hearing for 11.30am on Wednesday. His lawyers hope to secure his release.
