Wife of Mahmoud Khalil: ‘He is Fighting for His People’
New York (Quds News Network)- Noor Abdalla, the wife of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate who was arrested by ICE agents due to his pro-Palestinian activism on campus, stated that her husband is “Palestinian, and he’s standing up for his people.” The government has announced that it has begun proceedings to deport him over his activism.
On Saturday, Khalil, who is a permanent resident of the US, was detained by the ICE agents when he arrived at his home at a student resident facility with his pregnant wife over his activism as he played a key role in pro-Palestine and anti-genocide demonstrations on campus. He acted as a negotiator with university officials during protests for Palestine in the spring of 2024. The agents said they planned to revoke his green card at the behest of the US Department of State.
In her first media interview, Abdalla, a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant, told Reuters that Khalil asked her if she knew what to do if immigration agents came to their door. She said she was confused. As a legal permanent resident of the U.S., surely Khalil did not have to worry about that, she recalls telling him.
“I didn’t take him seriously. Clearly I was naive,” she said.
Abdalla, a 28-year-old dentist in New York, met Khalil while volunteering in Lebanon in 2016. The two are expecting their first child in late April and she said she hoped Khalil would be free by then.
She showed Reuters a picture of a recent sonogram: a boy whose name they have yet to choose.
“I think it would be very devastating for me and for him to meet his first child behind a glass screen,” Abdalla said.
On Monday, US District Judge Jesse Furman temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation. On Wednesday, the judge extended that prohibition in a written order – following a hearing in New York’s Manhattan federal court – to allow himself more time to consider whether the student’s arrest was unconstitutional.
Khalil grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and came to the U.S. on a student visa in 2022, getting his U.S. permanent residency green card last year.
“Mahmoud is Palestinian and he’s always been interested in Palestinian politics,” she said. “He’s standing up for his people, he’s fighting for his people.”
