The Trump administration’s detention of a green-card holder who was a leader in the Columbia University protests against Israel has put a face on the debate over immigration and the limits of free speech, with a sympathetic twist: The man, Mahmoud Khalil, is married to an American, and they are expecting their first child next month.

I was a student at Columbia University, where I covered tense campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war for the college newspaper and for POLITICO. So I’m familiar with Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia student who I’ve chatted with in the past and appears to be the first target of the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on student protesters.