Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil and his wife welcomed their first child Monday, while the Columbia University graduate and a legal permanent resident of the United States remains in federal detention,

Khalil, a Columbia University activist who has been held in a detention center in Jena, Louisiana for six weeks, requested a two-week furlough on Sunday morning, noting that his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, had gone into labor eight days earlier than expected.