Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for 104 days, in a Friday interview on MSNBC recounted what it was like to miss the birth of his first son.
“I lost, like, one of the divine moments with — with my wife and — and son. I mean, the first time was literally, like, 3:30 a.m., moments after, like, the delivery. I just heard him crying,” Khalil said in an excerpt of an interview airing Saturday on MSNBC’s “The Weekend: Primetime.”
“And — and that literally, like, got me in the heart. And I think it’s — it’s just unbelievable that someone had the cruelty to take that moment from — from me,” Khalil said.
Khalil was released on June 20 from ICE detention after his March arrest. He is a lawful resident of the U.S. with a green card and served as one of the lead negotiators of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia University while in school. He was not charged with a crime.
“My priority now is to get back to my wife and son,” Khalil told reporters after his release.
His arrest was the first of several foreign students the Trump administration detained in its crackdown on campus protests.
Khalil and his wife’s son was born in May. His wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said that returning to an empty apartment after the birth of their son was one of the most difficult moments for her.
“We walked into the apartment. And it was just — it was, like, quiet. And — and it’s not how I imagined walking into my apartment with my new baby. I don’t know. I think all the emotions kind of hit me at that point. I just — I just wanted him to be there,” she said about her husband.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered Khalil’s release, saying he was not a flight risk nor a danger to community. However, the case is still being litigated after the administration appealed the ruling the same day.
“There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner — and, of course, that would be unconstitutional,” wrote Farbiarz in his ruling.
As a condition for his release, Khalil’s travel is restricted to New York, Michigan, Washington, New Jersey and Louisiana for family visits, court appearances and interactions with Congress.
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