'Purposeful decision': Mahmoud Khalil's wife blames ICE for blocking him from attending son's birth

Noor Abdalla has accused US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of deliberately denying her detained husband, Mahmoud Khalil, the chance to witness the birth of their first child. Abdalla, a Michigan-born dentist, gave birth to a baby boy on Monday without Khalil by her side, saying ICE rejected a request for his temporary release from a detention centre in Louisiana to attend the birth in New York.
“This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer,” she said in a statement, shared by NBC News. Abdalla also said the move was intended to punish Khalil for his pro-Palestinian activism, accusing ICE and the Trump administration of “stealing these precious moments from our family.”
Khalil, a permanent US resident and graduate student at Columbia University, became a prominent figure during student protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza last year. He served as a spokesperson and mediator between student groups and the university. US federal agents, including Homeland Security officials, arrested Khalil on campus on 8 March as he returned from iftar, a Ramadan meal.
Authorities claim Khalil poses a national security threat. Earlier this month, an immigration judge ruled that his presence in the US could have “potentially serious foreign policy consequences,” allowing deportation proceedings to move forward. The decision is based on a law granting the Secretary of State, currently Marco Rubio, the discretion to deport noncitizens under such claims.
NBC News reported that Khalil was also accused of lying on his green card application, based on unverified tabloid articles and alleged mischaracterisations of his activism. His legal team strongly denies these allegations, saying they are retaliatory and rooted in his political speech.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Khalil made Jewish students feel unsafe and supported terrorists—accusations his lawyers reject, citing his cooperation with Jewish protesters during the Columbia protests.
Abdalla vowed to continue fighting for her husband’s release, saying, “When Mahmoud is freed, he will show our son how to be brave, thoughtful, and compassionate, just like his dad.”