Noor Abdalla, wife of Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, sits holding a photograph of their wedding day, on March 12, 2025. (Photo by Reuters)
The spouse of Mahmoud Khalil, Palestinian student-activist and US Green Card holder, says that her husband is standing up for his people.
Noor Abdalla, a US citizen and a practicing dentist, in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, said that her husband's focus was on supporting his community through advocacy and in more direct ways.
"Mahmoud is Palestinian and he's always been interested in Palestinian politics," she said, adding, "He's standing up for his people, he's fighting for his people."
Abdalla, who is eight months pregnant, described the harrowing moment when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents handcuffed her husband in the lobby of their university-owned apartment in Manhattan on Saturday.
As a legal permanent resident of the US, surely Khalil did not have to worry about that, she said she recalled telling him. “I didn’t take him seriously. Clearly I was naive,” she said.
Khalil arrived in the United States on a student visa in 2022 and obtained his permanent residency green card last year.
Despite the outpouring of support from peers and faculty, his wife expressed frustration at the lack of assistance from Columbia's administration. “No one from Columbia has contacted me to offer help.”
Khalil, a recent Colombia graduate and a Syrian-born Palestinian refugee, was detained on Saturday for his involvement in leading solidarity protests supporting Palestinians against Israel's genocide in Gaza.
His activism, which includes negotiating with university officials during protests advocating for Palestinian rights, has put him at the center of a political storm.
On Sunday, the Trump administration transferred Khalil from a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement jail in Elizabeth, New Jersey, near Manhattan, to a jail in rural Jena, Louisiana, about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away.
The following day, US District Judge Jesse Furman temporarily blocked Khalil's deportation. By Wednesday, the judge had formalized the ban in a written order after a hearing in Manhattan's federal court, granting himself additional time to evaluate the constitutionality of the student's arrest.
“Mr Khalil was identified, targeted, detained and is being processed for deportation on account of his advocacy for Palestinian rights,” Khalil’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem said in court on Wednesday.
The lawyers contend that Khalil's free speech rights have been violated, a position that resonates with many who believe that dissent should not come with the threat of deportation.
Hundreds of people rallied outside the New York City courtroom during the hearing to demand Khalil’s release. “Release Mahmoud Khalil now!” they chanted.
The situation has garnered significant attention, with support pouring in from various communities, including a rally held by Jewish faculty at Columbia University who voiced their opposition to Khalil's deportation. “Jews say no to deportations,” they chanted.
Following the detention of Khalil, US President Donald Trump declared it was "the first of many to come," labeling Khalil a “radical foreign pro-Hamas student” without providing any evidence.
He emphasized that his administration would adopt a strict stance against any pro-Palestinian activities within American universities.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed Trump’s sayings, suggesting potential visa and green card revocations for individuals deemed supporters of Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Neither Rubio nor the Department of Homeland Security offered any specifics on how Khalil's activism at Columbia University, where he openly acted as a student negotiator with school officials, constituted support for Hamas.
