US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a private prison contractor have refused to allow Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil to hold his newborn son, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in what advocates describe as a retaliatory act linked to his pro-Palestine activism. “After flying over a thousand miles to Louisiana with our newborn son, his very first flight, all so his father could finally hold him in his arms, ICE has denied us even this most basic human right,” said his wife, Noor Abdalla, in a statement issued via the ACLU.
