, May 12 -- Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student activist currently detained in Louisiana as he resists deportation under the Trump administration, has written a heartfelt letter to his newborn son, expressing the pain of missing his birth.

In the letter, published by The Guardian, Khalil tells his son, Deen, that his heart aches knowing "I could not hold you in my arms and hear your first cry, that I could not unfurl your clenched fists or change your first diaper".

A Palestinian, Khalil reflects that his absence mirrors the experiences of many fathers from his homeland.

"Like other Palestinian fathers, I was separated from you by racist regimes and distant prisons. In Palestine, this pain is part of daily life," he writes. "...