Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“Immigration authorities denied an urgent request by Mahmoud Khalil to be temporarily released from detention, under monitoring, so he could attend the birth of his first child. His wife, Noor Abdalla, delivered their son on Monday in New York. Khalil, who is being held at a remote Louisiana detention center, instead experienced part of the birth through a phone call. Khalil’s legal team wrote to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement official overseeing his detention on Sunday and informed her that his wife had gone into labor in New York that morning, emails obtained by NPR show. They asked her to grant Khalil a two-week conditional release so he could be present for the birth. … Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student, was the first student protester that the Trump administration [abducted] in its crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.” (04/21/25)