Mahmoud Khalil was arrested and taken more than 1,300 miles away from home to an ICE facility littered with dark, abusive histories.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident whose wife is a U.S. citizen and currently eight months pregnant, was arrested over the weekend for his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.
He was taken to LaSalle Correctional Facility, a for-profit ICE facility that operated as a juvenile correctional center until it was shut down for tear-gassing and pepper-spraying children, according to an ACLU report.
Since becoming an ICE facility, LaSalle has run rampant with sexual assault, with a 2024 audit finding that the facility violated multiple federal standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
In 2016, three immigrants died at LaSalle in the span of six months. The following year, another immigrant died, prompting an investigation.
Now, the detainment of Khalil in the LaSalle facility has people across the country worried.
Mahmoud Khalil
In a Tuesday press conference hosted by ReThink Media, Iranian-American human rights attorney Yasmine Taeb explained that Khalil’s transfer to LaSalle was “absolutely” intentional.
“I’m astonished and disgusted,” she said, explaining that the administration likely sent him there as a way to get Khalil to willingly revoke his own legal permanent residency.
Because conditions in the facility are so dangerous and unlivable, Taeb said that asylum seekers would rather “face potential death in their home country than stay in this hell hole.”
Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee echoed Taeb’s sentiment.
“They are usually taken to remote areas where it is hard to get an attorney,” he said during the press conference.
Ayoud explained that this is different from a criminal proceeding where a defendant would be kept near the location of the hearing. In this case, ICE can move Khalil “as they see fit.”
“Oftentimes, the families can go days or weeks without hearing from the individuals,” he added.
Ayoub also warned that we will likely see the use of “secret evidence” as Khalil’s case unfolds.
Secret or classified evidence, which has been used in immigration proceedings since the 1950s, is evidence that the U.S. Department of Justice does not share with the defendant, making it nearly impossible for an individual or their lawyers to establish a defense.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has been celebrating the arrest of Khalil, who he likened to a terrorist sympathizer, saying that this is just one of many arrests to come.
"This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s attempt to deport Khalil. Judge Jesse Furman ordered a hearing on Khalil’s case in New York City on Wednesday.
Khalil’s attorney, Amy Greer, said in a statement obtained by CNN that Khalil’s wife was present during his arrest. Greer spoke with Khalil on Monday, saying that he was “healthy and his spirits are undaunted by his predicament.”
“He was chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent, in violation of the First Amendment,” she said in the statement. “The government’s objective is as transparent as it is unlawful.”
Trump’s actions foreshadow a dark future as he gears up to enact a revised and strengthened Muslim ban, which includes language that many are concerned could be used to target current visa and green card holders, like Khalil.
“You may soon live in a country where you can assault a police officer and storm the Capitol to overturn a Democratic election and walk off scot-free,” Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council said during the press conference.
“But if you attend a peaceful anti-war rally,” he added, “you could be deported.”
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