New York (AP) – Palestinian activists detained Mahmoud Khalil He was allowed to hold his one-month-old son first on Thursday after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to continue separating his father and infant with a plexiglass barrier.
The visit came before the scheduled immigration hearing of Halil, a legal permanent resident and Columbia University alumnus who have been detained at Louisiana prison since March 8th.
He was the first President Donald Trump to be arrested under the promise of crackdown on protesters against the war in Gaza, and is one of the few who have been detained as his case passes both immigrants and federal courts.
His request to attend his son’s April 21 birth It was rejected Last month, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
The question of whether Halil was allowed to hold a newborn child or forced to meet him through a barrier sparked a legal battle for several days, sparking the allegations by Khalil’s lawyers that he was the subject of political retaliation by the government.
New Jersey federal judge Michael Fabiartz stepped in on Wednesday night and was able to move forward with the meeting Thursday morning, according to Halil’s lawyers.
The judge’s order came after federal officials said this week he opposed the lawyer’s efforts to secure what is known as a “contact visit” between Khalil, his wife Noor Abdallah and son Dean.
Instead, they said that Halil could be allowed to make “contactless” visits. This means that he is separated from his wife and son by a plastic partition and cannot be touched.
“Giving Khalil to relief from family visits would effectively grant him the privilege of not receiving any other detainees,” a Justice Department official wrote in a court application Wednesday. “When Dr. Abdallah and his newborn are allowed to attend legal meetings, the legal visit will be transformed into family.”
“It’s not safe for Mr. Halil’s wife and newborn children to enter the safe portion of the facility,” Brian Acuna, acting director of the Ice Field Office in New Orleans, in an accompanying affidavit.
In their own legal application, Khalil’s lawyers described the government’s refusal to allow the visit as “further evidence of the retaliatory motivation behind Khalil’s arrest and distant detention,” adding that his wife and son were “the farthest from security risks.”
They said they moved about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) to a detention centre far away, hoping that Abdallah would introduce his son to his father.
“This is not merely heartlessness,” Abdallah said of the government’s position. “It’s intentional violence, a calculated atrocities of government that toress families without regrets, and I cannot ignore the echo of this pain in the Palestinian family stories.
Farbiarz is currently under consideration Khalil’s release petition Let him plead with the Louisiana Immigration Judge’s ruling that he could be deported from the country.
Federal authorities have not accused Halil of crime, but his prominent role in the protest has sought to expel him. Israel’s war in Gaza It could have undermined the interests of foreign policy on us.
Khalil is scheduled to appear before that immigration judge, Jamee Comans, for a routine hearing on Thursday. Khalil’s lawyer said it is unclear whether the baby will be allowed to attend the hearing.
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