Mahmoud Khalil misses first child's birth after ICE denies his release from detention
Emails show an official denied the request for student activist's release in less than an hour, after his wife went into labor earlier than expected.
NEW YORK − Mahmoud Khalil’s wife gave birth to their first child on April 21 while Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist, is still held in an immigration detention center.
Noor Abdalla said in a statement that she requested Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow her husband, 30, a legal permanent resident, to attend the birth of their son. She said they denied his temporary release from a Louisiana ICE facility more than 1,000 miles away.
“My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud,” Abdalla, 28, a U.S. citizen, said in a statement. “ICE and the Trump administration have stolen these precious moments from our family in an attempt to silence Mahmoud’s support for Palestinian freedom.”
A spokesperson for the family declined to disclose the son's name, though said he was born at a New York hospital.
In response to questions about requests for his temporary release, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement, “It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America.”
The privilege should be revoked and people should not be in this country, McLaughlin said, if “you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, take over buildings and deface property.”
Khalil's lawyers have called such allegations baseless.
In emails obtained by Paste BN, Khalil’s lawyers told ICE officials on the morning of April 20 that Abdalla went into labor eight days earlier than expected.
Lawyers requested a two-week furlough for Khalil that “would be both reasonable and humane so that both parents can be present for the birth of their first child,” an email read. They offered a GPS ankle monitor and scheduled check-ins during this time.
Less than an hour later, Mellissa Harper, ICE's field office director in New Orleans, responded and said that after consideration of information and reviewing the client’s case, the request was denied.
On March 8, federal immigration agents arrested Khalil while he and Abdalla, who was then eight months pregnant, were returning home from dinner. Abdalla recorded the video of agents detaining him in their university-owned apartment building lobby in New York City. Khalil, who is Palestinian, though he was born and raised in Syria, has been held in ICE detention since then.
The Trump administration has said it stripped him of his legal status in the country and detained him for his role in pro-Palestinian student protests at the Ivy League campus. Khalil had participated in protests since then, which drew the attention of pro-Israel groups that had called for revoking his legal status.
Federal officials say he participated in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities" that "undermine U.S. efforts to combat anti-Semitism."
Khalil hasn't been charged with a crime. He has denied accusations of antisemitism.
A year ago, Khalil was a student negotiator for encampment protests calling on Columbia to divest from Israel amid its devastating siege of Gaza after the deadly Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel. Columbia's encampment triggered similar protests across the country and internationally before crackdowns by police and universities.
On April 11, a federal immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Khalil could be deported, a key step for the Trump administration’s plans to remove pro-Palestinian international students in the country legally. Khalil has sued in New Jersey federal court for his release. His attorneys argue he has been targeted for his speech and is not a threat to anyone.
Contributing: Hannan Adely and Ricardo Kaulessar, The Bergen Record; Reuters
(This story was updated to add new information.)