Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil’s wife gave birth to their baby, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to let him out of detention to be present.
Mr. Khalil, who was a student at Columbia University, has been ordered deported by an immigration judge and is being held in detention.
His lawyers had asked a federal judge to set him free for a two-week furlough so he could be with his wife when she went into labor and after the birth. She went into labor Sunday morning, eight days early, the lawyers said.
“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 said. They said Mr. Khalil would have been willing to wear a GPS monitor or conduct check-ins to satisfy ICE that he wasn’t on the run.
But Melissa Harper, the director of ICE’s New Orleans field office, rejected the idea in a brief message submitted in court documents.
“After consideration of the submitted information and a review of your client’s case, your request for furlough is denied,” she wrote.
Mr. Khalil last month became the first major arrest in President Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian student activists. Mr. Khalil had been a prominent figure in the protests at Columbia University, where the demonstrations made headlines for their ferocity.
