Columbia
University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil testified at his asylum hearing on
Thursday, telling an immigration judge in Jena, Louisiana, that his deportation
from the United States could lead to his “assassination, kidnapping, torture.”
Hours before the hearing, Khalil was allowed to meet and hold his 1-month-old
son Deen for the first time. The emotional moment came after a federal judge
blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep Khalil behind a plexiglass
barrier for a visit with his wife and infant son.
