Detained pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil on Thursday held his one-month-old son for the first time, after a US federal judge overruled the Donald Trump administration's efforts to keep the father and the infant separated by a plexiglass barrier.
Also Read: 'Cruel and inhuman': Mahmoud Khalil's wife says ICE refused to let him hold their newborn son
New Jersey federal judge Michael Farbiarz issued an order allowing Khalil a " contact visit " by his wife, US national Noor Abdalla , and their son Deen. The Wednesday night order came after federal officials said they would oppose the Columbia University graduate's legal effort to secure the contact visit.
Abdalla's visit came ahead of a scheduled immigration hearing for her spouse, a legal permanent resident who has been detained in a Louisiana jail since March 8.
Also Read | Watch: Students chant 'Free Mahmoud', boo Columbia University interim president at convocation ceremony
Khalil was the first person arrested under President Donald Trump's promised crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters. Previously, the US Customs and Immigration Department (ICE) had declined Khalil's request to attend the birth of his child. Deen was born on April 21.
Authorities have not accused Khalil of a crime, but they have sought to deport him on the basis that his "prominent role" in protests against Israel's war in Gaza may have "undermined" US foreign policy interests.
The legal arguments
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) argued that granting a family visitation to Khalil would "effectively grant him a privilege no other detainee receives."
"Allowing Dr. Abdalla and a newborn to attend a legal meeting would turn a legal visitation into a family one," DoJ officials wrote in a court filing.
Brian Acuna, acting director of the ICE field office in New Orleans, noted in an accompanying affidavit that it would be "unsafe" to allow Abdalla, a Michigan-born dentist, and the baby into a secured part of the facility.
In their own legal filings, Khalil's attorneys described the government's refusal to grant the visit as "further evidence of the retaliatory motive behind Mr. Khalil's arrest and faraway detention," adding that his wife and child were "the farthest thing from a security risk."
They noted that Abdalla had travelled nearly 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) to the remote detention centre in Jena, Louisiana, in hopes of introducing their son to his father.
(With AP inputs)
Also Read: 'Cruel and inhuman': Mahmoud Khalil's wife says ICE refused to let him hold their newborn son
New Jersey federal judge Michael Farbiarz issued an order allowing Khalil a " contact visit " by his wife, US national Noor Abdalla , and their son Deen. The Wednesday night order came after federal officials said they would oppose the Columbia University graduate's legal effort to secure the contact visit.
Abdalla's visit came ahead of a scheduled immigration hearing for her spouse, a legal permanent resident who has been detained in a Louisiana jail since March 8.
Also Read | Watch: Students chant 'Free Mahmoud', boo Columbia University interim president at convocation ceremony
Khalil was the first person arrested under President Donald Trump's promised crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters. Previously, the US Customs and Immigration Department (ICE) had declined Khalil's request to attend the birth of his child. Deen was born on April 21.
Authorities have not accused Khalil of a crime, but they have sought to deport him on the basis that his "prominent role" in protests against Israel's war in Gaza may have "undermined" US foreign policy interests.
The legal arguments
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) argued that granting a family visitation to Khalil would "effectively grant him a privilege no other detainee receives."
"Allowing Dr. Abdalla and a newborn to attend a legal meeting would turn a legal visitation into a family one," DoJ officials wrote in a court filing.
Brian Acuna, acting director of the ICE field office in New Orleans, noted in an accompanying affidavit that it would be "unsafe" to allow Abdalla, a Michigan-born dentist, and the baby into a secured part of the facility.
In their own legal filings, Khalil's attorneys described the government's refusal to grant the visit as "further evidence of the retaliatory motive behind Mr. Khalil's arrest and faraway detention," adding that his wife and child were "the farthest thing from a security risk."
They noted that Abdalla had travelled nearly 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) to the remote detention centre in Jena, Louisiana, in hopes of introducing their son to his father.
(With AP inputs)
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