The Department of Homeland Security denied Mahmoud Khalil permission to attend the birth of his first child, who was delivered at a New York hospital on Monday, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times.
Instead, Mr. Khalil experienced the birth by telephone from Jena, La., more than 1,000 miles from the hospital where his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, gave birth to a son. It is unclear when he will be able to see the baby.
Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident who was a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Columbia University campus, has been detained in Louisiana for more than a month. On Sunday morning, shortly after Dr. Abdalla went into labor, Mr. Khalil’s lawyers requested a two-week furlough so that he could attend the birth.
The lawyers proposed several ways for Mr. Khalil, 30, to be monitored. They said he could wear an ankle monitor and make scheduled check-ins.
“A two week furlough in this civil detention matter would be both reasonable and humane so that both parents can be present for the birth of their first child,” the lawyers wrote.
Less than an hour after they made their request, Melissa Harper, the director of the New Orleans field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, denied it. She wrote that the decision had been made “after consideration of the submitted information and a review of your client’s case.”
Mr. Khalil was able to communicate with his wife for some portion of the delivery, said one of his lawyers, Marc Van Der Hout. Dr. Abdalla and the baby, who was born early Monday morning, are both healthy.
“This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer,” Dr. Abdalla said in a statement on Monday, adding, “My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud. ICE and the Trump administration have stolen these precious moments from our family in an attempt to silence Mahmoud’s support for Palestinian freedom.”
Mr. Van Der Hout said that he had thought that a furlough might have been possible, given that no one had declared his client to be a danger to community or a flight risk.
“It was definitely just punitive,” he said. “It was an utter lack of humanity.”
Mr. Khalil, he said, was focused on supporting Dr. Abdalla “to the degree he can from detention and soaking in the joy of having a child for the first time, but he’s tremendously disappointed that he can’t be with his wife and baby boy.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is unclear how often ICE allows furloughs in run-of-the-mill cases, let alone a case like that of Mr. Khalil, where the White House has weighed in.
In March, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, initiated deportation proceedings against Mr. Khalil, invoking a rarely used law that allows the secretary to move against anyone who can reasonably be considered a threat to American foreign policy. Mr. Khalil was arrested in the lobby of his New York apartment building, the first in a spate of high-profile arrests of campus demonstrators by the Trump administration, and his case raises significant questions about free speech and due process during President Trump’s second term.
Mr. Rubio argued in a memo that Mr. Khalil’s presence in the country enabled the spread of antisemitism, and Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, accused Mr. Khalil after his arrest of having “led activities aligned to Hamas.”
Mr. Khalil’s lawyers have denied that, and noted that in public remarks on CNN, Mr. Khalil said that “antisemitism and any form of racism has no place on campus and in this movement.” The evidence submitted in his immigration case did not reveal any support for Hamas.
Earlier this month, a Louisiana immigration judge found that Mr. Khalil could be deported on the basis of Mr. Rubio’s memo. But a New Jersey district court judge has barred the government from removing Mr. Khalil from the country while he considers the constitutional issues in the case.
Mr. Khalil’s lawyers have several motions pending before the New Jersey judge, Michael E. Farbiarz. Also on Sunday, they asked Judge Farbiarz to consider a pending request for bail on an expedited basis. The judge declined to rush his decision, but the request is still pending, as is another asking that Mr. Khalil be transferred back to the East Coast.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in the New York region for The Times. He is focused on political influence and its effect on the rule of law in the area’s federal and state courts.
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