Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student and Palestinian activist being held in an immigration detention center in Louisiana, missed the birth of his firstborn child on Monday.

ICE officials denied him permission to attend the birth in person, according to emails reviewed by multiple news outlets.

Attorneys for Khalil wrote to the director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in New Orleans, Melissa Harper, on Sunday, according to emails, asking if Khalil could be released from detention for two weeks so he could be with his wife in New York during delivery.

In early March, Khalil was detained at his apartment in front of his pregnant wife, one of the first arrests of a student who participated in campus protests against the war in Gaza.

“Mr. Khalil’s wife has just gone into labor this morning in New York City, eight days earlier than expected,” Khalil’s attorneys wrote per the emails. “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.”

His attorneys added they would agree to any needed conditions, such as Khalil wearing a GPS monitor and scheduled check-ins.

Harper was reported to respond with a two-sentence denial saying the decision came, “after consideration of the submitted information and a review of your client’s case.”

Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, issued a statement Monday responding to the decision.

“I welcomed our son into the world earlier today without Mahmoud by my side. Despite our request for ICE to allow Mahmoud to attend the birth, they denied his temporary release to meet our son. This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud and our son suffer,” she wrote.

“Mahmoud remains unjustly detained in an ICE detention center over 1,000 miles away from his firstborn child. My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud,” Abdalla continued. “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 ruled Friday that Khalil can be deported on the grounds of being a national security risk after participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans said the government’s contention that Khalil’s presence in the United States posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” was enough to satisfy requirements for his deportation.

Comans said the government had “established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable.”

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