Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, was arrested by DHS agents on March 8 and has since been held in a Louisiana detention center, despite not facing any formal charges. Khalil, a green card holder, argues he is a political prisoner due to his activism linked to Hamas. His attorney recently released a letter from Khalil, highlighting the injustices within immigration detention, where many detainees are deprived of rights and legal protections. Khalil describes his arrest as arbitrary, underscoring the fear and uncertainty faced by himself and other detainees in similar situations.
Justice escapes the contours of this nation's immigration facilities. My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner. I am writing to you from a detention facility in Louisiana where I wake to cold mornings and spend long days bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law.
Who has the right to have rights? It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here. It isn't the Senegalese man I met who has been deprived of his liberty for a year, his legal situation in limbo and his family an ocean away.
On March 8, I was taken by DHS agents who refused to provide a warrant, and accosted my wife and me as we returned from dinner. By now, the footage of that night has been made public.
Before I knew what was happening, agents handcuffed and forced me into an unmarked car. At that moment, my only concern was for Noor's safety. I had no idea if she would be taken too, since the agents had threatened to arrest her for not leaving my side.
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