ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
After 104 days in detention, a federal judge ordered the government to release Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. The Trump administration arrested him in March. They claimed his pro-Palestinian activism was antisemitic and threatened U.S. foreign policy goals. At the time, his wife was eight months pregnant. She gave birth to their son without Khalil by her side. NPR's Leila Fadel talked with him about his experience.
MAHMOUD KHALIL: Missing the birth of Deen, I believe that was the most tragic event that happened to me in my life. And last month, after so much pressure, they allowed me to hold him for an hour. So this time felt, of course, different. It's just very mixed feelings.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: What do you mean mixed feelings?
KHALIL: I was in shock. Like, is this really happening? Am I daydreaming? But also mixed feelings about the hundreds of fathers in the detention center that there's no - absolutely no reason why they cannot hold their children. In some way, I felt that now I defeated Trump. They wanted to separate me from my family, but they failed.
FADEL: Can you say more about that? I mean, this is an administration that has said very clearly that they think that the protests are bad, that they're antisemitic and that they will continue to deport and detain students.
KHALIL: They want the protests to stop because it exposes this administration's and government hypocrisy when it comes to human rights. In my case, they weaponized the immigration system to achieve what they want to, which is to chill speech. And Trump basically thinks that he creates the law and people should follow. So the fact that the federal judge ordered my release meant that Trump is basically no king.
SHAPIRO: That was Mahmoud Khalil talking with NPR's Leila Fadel. A Homeland Security spokesperson said Khalil's detention was legal and urged him to self-deport. The White House says it expects to be, quote, "vindicated on appeal." The administration did not address NPR's questions on why Khalil was not allowed to speak to reporters, nor did they provide evidence for their claims that Khalil supported Hamas or incited antisemitism.
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