Overview

• Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian-American activist and Columbia University graduate student, has been detained in a Louisiana ICE facility for 10 weeks under a rarely used foreign policy risk provision.
• ICE and the facility contractor, GEO Group, have denied Khalil’s repeated requests for a contact visit with his wife, Noor Abdalla, and their month-old son, citing security concerns and a no-contact policy.
• Khalil’s legal team has petitioned Judge Michael Farbiarz to intervene, arguing that a face-to-face visit is critical for both emotional reasons and his ability to participate in ongoing legal proceedings.
• Noor Abdalla traveled over 1,500 miles to the facility with their newborn for a plexiglass-separated visit, describing ICE’s denial of contact as “calculated cruelty” and a violation of basic human rights.
• The Trump administration has defended Khalil’s detention, claiming that his pro-Palestinian activism poses a threat to U.S. foreign policy, sparking broader debates over free speech, immigrant rights, and ICE detention practices.