June 6 (UPI) -- Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate detained by the Trump administration in March for deportation over his pro-Palestinian views, offered a public declaration that details what he's experienced since his arrest.
In a case document filed Thursday, Khalil listed what he described as the "irreparable harms" he has suffered, which he claimed have affected several parts of his life that "include dignitary and reputational harm, personal and familial hardship, including constant fear for personal safety, continued detention, restrictions on my freedom of expression, and severe damage to my professional future."
The declaration, which was made from inside the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, La., where Khalil has been held since March 9, puts focus on the birth of his son, which happened during his incarceration.
"Instead of holding my wife's hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone." Khalil described.
"I listened to her pain, trying to comfort her while 70 other men slept around me. When I heard my son's first cries, I buried my face in my arms so no one would see me weep."
Khalil described that the first time he saw his son was through a window, and the first time he held him was in an immigration courtroom, to which his wife had to travel ten hours to reach, with their newborn.
"I speak to her as often as possible, but these conversations are not private, everything is monitored by the government," Khalil said, which makes it impossible for them to comfortably speak freely.
"We leave so much unsaid, and that silence weighs heavily on both of us."
Khalil said that not only has the situation been "devastating" for him, but that his wife has dealt with harassment since his arrest. Khalil further described the anguish of seeing Trump administration officials post statements and photos of him on social media that he purports as "accompanied by inflammatory language, grotesque and false accusations, and open celebration of my deportation."
Khalil expressed concern for his future as well. He said he was hired by the nonprofit equality-focused Oxfam International group only days before his arrest as a Palestine and Middle East/ North Africa policy advisor, and was scheduled to start work in April, but the job offer was formally revoked. He says "I strongly believe" his arrest and continued detention is the reason for this.
He added that should the charges against him stand, "the harm to my professional career would be career-ending."
Khalil further worried his arrest would result in a lifetime of "being flagged, delayed, or denied when traveling, applying for visas, or engaging with consular authorities anywhere in the world," and not just him, but his wife and son.
His mother had also applied for a visa in March to visit the United States to see their child be born, and although that was approved, the U.S. embassy returned her passport without a stamp, and now her case is under "administrative processing," and remains unapproved. Khalil's elderly father, whom he describes as "severely disabled," lives in Germany, and he ponders whether any country allied with the United States will ever grant him entry should the charges stand.
Khalil detailed the allegations under which he has been held for deportation, which not only did he deny as testimony at his May immigration court hearing, at which he purports "The government attorneys did not ask me any questions regarding these issues."
However, Khalil maintained his greatest concern of all is a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio based on a law that an "alien" can be deported should his presence in the United States "have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences."
"I understand that the Rubio Determination is not only a ground for deportation, but it is also a bar to entry," said Khalil.
"In other words, no matter what happens to the other charge against me, it is the Rubio Determination that will make this country, the country of my wife and child, a country I cannot return to in the future."
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