By Jayla Whitfield-Anderson
JENA, Louisiana (Reuters) -Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist arrested by U.S. immigration agents in March, met his month-old son for the first time on Thursday before an immigration hearing, his attorneys said.
After the daylong hearing, Judge Jamee Comans of the LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana, did not decide whether the U.S. government can proceed with deporting Khalil. She was to rule at a later date.
Before the proceedings began Khalil met with his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, and their baby Deen inside the Jena facility, an encounter made possible by a judge’s ruling on Wednesday that Khalil must be allowed to meet with his wife.
“Mahmoud was able to see his baby and hold his baby and talk to his wife and hold his wife this morning,” Amy Greer, one of his attorneys, told reporters after the hearing, adding that lawyers allowed the family privacy and were unable to relay details of the encounter.
Khalil, a leader in the Columbia University student movement that has criticized Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, has become a central figure in the U.S. debate over the war and Trump administration tactics to use its jailing and deportation powers against political opponents.
The Trump administration has said his presence could harm U.S. foreign policy interests. Khalil says he is the victim of U.S. repression of free speech.
His son was born after Khalil was arrested on March 8 as the State Department revoked his green card under a little-used provision of U.S. immigration law granting the U.S. secretary of state the power to seek the deportation of any non-citizen whose presence in the country is deemed adverse to U.S. foreign policy interests.
Khalil, 30, a Palestinian who was born and raised in a refugee camp in Syria, entered the U.S. on a student visa in 2022 and became a lawful permanent resident last year through his wife, a U.S. citizen.
In separate proceedings, a federal judge has blocked Khalil’s removal while considering the student’s claim his arrest was unconstitutional. That order will stand whether Comans rules in favor of deporting him until the broader questions are settled.
(Reporting by Jayla Whitfield-Anderson; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Donna Bryson and Sonali Paul)
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