Two days before his arrest, Columbia University student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil asked his wife if she knew what to do if immigration agents showed up at their door.
His wife, Noor Abdalla, was confused, believing that as a legal permanent U.S. resident, Khalil had nothing to fear. “I didn’t take him seriously. Clearly, I was naive,” said Abdalla, a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant, in her first media interview with Reuters.
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On Saturday, U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Khalil in the lobby of their university-owned apartment in Manhattan. His arrest is among the first steps taken by President Donald Trump, who returned to office in January, to deport certain foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests.
During a court hearing on Wednesday, Abdalla, a 28-year-old dentist in New York, sat in the front row as Khalil’s attorneys argued that his arrest was retaliation for his outspoken opposition to Israel’s military actions in Gaza following Hamas’ October 2023 attack. They claimed the arrest violated his constitutional right to free speech. The judge extended his order preventing Khalil’s deportation while reviewing the case’s constitutionality.
Trump alleged—without presenting evidence—that Khalil promoted Hamas, the Palestinian group governing Gaza. While Khalil has not been charged with any crime, Trump stated that his presence in the U.S. goes against national and foreign policy interests.
A Loving Husband, Now Detained Far from Home
On Sunday, authorities transferred Khalil from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to a facility in Jena, Louisiana—1,200 miles (2,000 km) away from Manhattan.
Abdalla and Khalil first met in 2016 in Lebanon, where she volunteered with an NGO providing scholarships for Syrian youth—a program Khalil oversaw. Their friendship turned into a long-distance relationship that lasted seven years before they married in New York in 2023.
“He is an incredibly caring person who always puts others first,” Abdalla said. “He has the kindest, most genuine soul.”
The couple is expecting their first child in April, and Abdalla hopes Khalil will be free before then. She shared a sonogram of their unborn son, whose name is still undecided.
“It would be devastating for both of us if he had to meet our child from behind a glass barrier,” she said, noting that Khalil had taken over household chores during her pregnancy. “I was excited to have my first baby with the person I love.”
Despite legal proceedings to deport Khalil, the government is defending his detention in court. Trump has called student protests against Israel “antisemitic” and warned that Khalil’s arrest is “just the first of many.”
From Campus Activism to Detention
Khalil, born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, arrived in the U.S. in 2022 on a student visa and obtained permanent residency last year. He completed his studies at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December, though he has yet to receive his diploma.
A prominent figure in Columbia’s pro-Palestinian student movement, Khalil frequently spoke to the media and led negotiations with university officials, demanding the school divest its $14.8 billion endowment from companies linked to Israel’s military.
The October 2023 Hamas-led attack killed over 1,200 people in Israel, with 251 hostages taken to Gaza, according to Israeli reports. Since then, Israel’s military operations have killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
The Trump administration claims that pro-Palestinian college protests, including those at Columbia, have supported Hamas, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization, and have involved antisemitic harassment of Jewish students. Protest leaders, however, argue that criticism of Israel is being wrongly equated with antisemitism.
On Monday, Jewish faculty at Columbia organized a rally supporting Khalil, carrying signs reading “Jews say no to deportations.”
Despite widespread campus activism, Abdalla expressed frustration that Columbia’s administration had not reached out to offer her support.
Meanwhile, Khalil has continued his advocacy behind bars. During their brief phone calls, he told Abdalla he was helping detained migrants fill out complex legal paperwork and donating commissary food to fellow inmates.
“Mahmoud has always been deeply involved in Palestinian politics,” she said. “He’s standing up for his people, fighting for justice.”
Abdalla abruptly ended her interview when she saw Khalil was calling from jail.
