Wife of Mahmoud Khalil Speaks Out About His Arrest by ICE Agents

Washington (Quds News Network)- Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, issued a statement on Tuesday night following the arrest of her husband, a Columbia University graduate student, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. His arrest is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke his green card and deport him due to his pro-Palestine activism.

“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.

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.”

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.

She addded: “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.”

“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.