Exclusive-Wife of arrested Columbia student says she was naive to believe he was secure

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two days earlier U.S. agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University pupil and Palestinian activistic asked his woman if she knew what to bash if migration agents came to their door.

Noor Abdalla, Khalil's woman of much than 2 years, said she was confused. As a ineligible imperishable nonmigratory of the U.S., surely Khalil did not person to interest astir that, she recalls telling him.

"I didn't instrumentality him seriously. Clearly I was naive," Abdalla, a U.S. national who is 8 months pregnant, told Reuters successful her archetypal media interview.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents handcuffed her hubby connected Saturday successful the lobby of their university-owned flat gathering successful Manhattan.

Earlier connected Wednesday, Abdalla sat successful the beforehand enactment of a Manhattan courtroom arsenic Khalil's lawyers argued to a national justice that helium had been arrested successful retaliation for his outspoken advocacy against Israel's subject battle connected Gaza pursuing militant radical Hamas' October 2023 attack. They told the justice that was a usurpation of Khalil's close to escaped speech.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said connected societal media that Khalil supported Hamas, the Islamist radical that governs Gaza. But his medication has said helium is not accused of oregon charged with a transgression and it has not provided grounds of Khalil's alleged enactment for the militant group.

Khalil is presently being held astatine U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement jailhouse successful Louisiana.

Abdalla, a 28-year-old dentist successful New York, met Khalil portion volunteering successful Lebanon successful 2016. The 2 are expecting their archetypal kid successful precocious April and she said she hoped Khalil would beryllium escaped by then. She showed Reuters a representation of a caller sonogram: a lad whose sanction they person yet to choose.

"I deliberation it would beryllium precise devastating for maine and for him to conscionable his archetypal kid down a solid screen," Abdalla said.

The authorities has said it has begun proceedings to deport Khalil and is defending his detention successful the tribunal proceedings until then.

Khalil's detention is 1 of the archetypal efforts by Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House successful January, to fulfill his committedness to question deportation of immoderate overseas students progressive successful the pro-Palestinian protestation movement, which helium has called antisemitic.

Khalil grew up successful a Palestinian exile campy successful Syria and came to the U.S. connected a pupil visa successful 2022, getting his U.S. imperishable residency greenish paper past year. He was a salient subordinate of Columbia's pupil protestation question demanding the schoolhouse extremity investments of its $14.8 cardinal endowment successful weapons makers and different companies that enactment Israel's government.

The Trump medication says pro-Palestinian protests connected assemblage campuses, including Columbia, person included enactment for Hamas and antisemitic harassment of Jewish students. Student protestation organizers accidental disapproval of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism.

Abdalla said her husband's absorption was supporting his assemblage done advocacy and successful much nonstop ways. She has had a fewer little telephone calls with Khalil from the jail, wherever helium told her helium had been helping different detained migrants capable retired forms written successful English legalese.

"Mahmoud is Palestinian and he's ever been funny successful Palestinian politics," she said. "He's lasting up for his people, he's warring for his people."

Abdalla ended Wednesday's interrogation abruptly erstwhile she saw Khalil was calling her.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen successful New York; Editing by Donna Bryson, Paul Thomasch and Bill Berkrot)