Mahmoud Khalil: jailed pro-Palestine activist denied temporary release to be with wife as she gives birth

Campaigner had requested two-week furlough, noting that his wife was in labour eight days earlier than expected

Mahmoud Khalil at a pro-Palestine protest at Columbia University on October 13, 2023, in New York City. A recent graduate, he was arrested on March 8. Getty Images

Federal immigration authorities denied Mahmoud Khalil’s request for a temporary release from detention to attend the birth of his first child, who was born on Monday in New York, according to AP.

Mr Khalil, a graduate of Columbia University who was a leader in campus pro-Palestine protests last year, is being held in an immigration detention centre in Louisiana after he was arrested last month and threatened with deportation.

The activist had requested a two-week furlough on Sunday morning, noting that his wife, Noor Abdalla, had gone into labour eight days earlier than expected.

His lawyers said he would be “open to any combination of conditions” to allow the release, including wearing an ankle monitor and attending regularly scheduled check-ins with immigration authorities.

Pro-Palestinian activists demonstrate in front of Columbia University in support of Mahmoud Khalil, in New York on march 14, 2025. AFP

But the director of the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office denied the request.

Ms Abdalla said she had to give birth to her baby boy on Monday in New York without her husband by her side, which she called “a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud and our son suffer”.

“My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud,” she added. “ICE and the Trump administration have stolen these precious moments from our family in an attempt to silence Mahmoud’s support for Palestinian freedom.”

An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled earlier this month that the US government can proceed with efforts to deport Mr Khalil, whom authorities consider a national security risk.

Judge Jamee E Comans concluded after a hearing that the government had sufficiently demonstrated Mr Khalil’s presence in the US could have “potentially serious foreign policy consequences”, meeting the legal threshold for deportation.

Mr Khalil's legal team have said it plans to appeal the ruling.

Who is Mahmoud Khalil?

Mr Khalil was born in Syria and is of Palestinian descent. He is also an Algerian citizen. He earned a degree in computer science from the Lebanese American University before working with the Syrian-American non-profit Jusoor.

Before moving to the US in 2022, he worked for the British embassy in Beirut, according to his biography on the Society for International Development website.

He earned a master's degree at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and is married to Ms Abdalla, a US citizen. He is a lawful US permanent resident.

During the wave of pro-Palestine campus protests across the US last year, Mr Khalil acted as a student negotiator between demonstrators and the administration. Protesters at Columbia were urging the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel amid the war in Gaza.

Footage shows moment Mahmoud Khalil was arrested

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Mr Khalil was returning to his home in New York in early March with his wife when he was stopped by plainclothes immigration officers who placed him under arrest and told him his student visa had been revoked. When informed he was a green card holder, he was told that was also being revoked, according to his lawyer.

Following his detention, he was sent to the immigration centre in Louisiana. His legal team has said they have had only limited access to him.

The government has not accused Mr Khalil of any criminal conduct but has said he should be expelled from the country for his beliefs, quoting national security concerns.

A memo submitted to the immigration court hearing Mr Khalil's case – signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio – said that while the activist's activities were “otherwise lawful”, letting him remain in the country would undermine “US policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States”.

The White House has also accused Mr Khalil of disseminating Hamas propaganda during the protests.

Mr Khalil, however, has said that he is a political prisoner and that his detention is indicative of anti-Palestinian racism.

“The US has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention. For decades, anti-Palestinian racism has driven efforts to expand US laws and practices that are used to violently repress Palestinians, Arab Americans and other communities. That is precisely why I am being targeted,” he said in a letter made public last month.