After More Than 100 days, Mahmoud Khalil is Finally Home

A judge ordered Mahmoud to be released on bail on Friday, June 20, after over 100 days being unjustly trapped in a remote ICE detention facility in Louisiana.

The following day, Mahmoud Khalil landed at Newark airport, finally arriving home to his wife Dr. Noor Abdalla, baby son, and community in New York.

“After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” Dr. Abdalla said in a press statement announcing his release. “We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians. But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family, and the community that has supported us since the day he was unjustly taken for speaking out for Palestinian freedom.”

 

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Mahmoud’s return home is a beautiful victory after an outrageous attack on his rights. He is finally able to hold his baby son, embrace his wife Noor, and sleep in his own bed. But he never should have been separated from them in the first place – and he will never get back the moments they stole from him: The birth of his son, his child’s first weeks, Mother’s and Father’s Day, his own graduation, and so much more.

 

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Allowing Mahmoud to continue to fight his case at home in New York – where he has his family and support system – is an incredible step toward justice. But the fight is not over: Mahmoud is still fighting deportation, and Trump will continue targeting him for his protected speech in support of Palestinian rights.

The NYCLU will keep fighting to make sure that Mahmoud remains free, with his family and community.

We won’t rest until the Trump administration’s bogus charges against Mahmoud are dropped and we secure his permanent freedom.

Mr. Khalil’s legal team in his federal case includes the New York Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU, the ACLU of New Jersey, the City University of New York’s CLEAR clinic, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Alina Das of Washington Square Legal Services, Van Der Hout LLP and Amy Greer of Dratel + Lewis.