NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) — A Columbia University graduate student detained by US authorities over his role in pro-Palestinian protests will ask the US Supreme Court to halt his deportation after a federal appeals court rejected his request for a re-hearing.
The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia on Friday declined to review the case of Mahmoud Khalil, 31, who was arrested by immigration officials last year and quickly became a symbol of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on campus protests over Israel’s two-year war in Gaza.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court sided with the government in January finding Khalil must first challenge his deportation in an immigration court before going to federal court. Khalil’s lawyers had asked that a full panel of appeals court judge re-hear his case but the court rejected the request by a split vote of 6 to 5 judges.
Khalil’s lawyers said they will now ask the Supreme Court to review the appeals court’s decision. His lawyers will also ask the Philadelphia appeals court for a stay of its ruling to protect Khalil from being deported while he files his petition with the Supreme Court.
“Today’s decision is not the final word, and we still strongly believe in our arguments going forward,” said Brett Max Kaufman, of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“If the Trump administration can target, arrest, detain, and deport Mahmoud for his speech, they can do it to anyone expressing an opinion they disagree with,” he said.
Khalil, who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, was held for more than three months by the US. A lawful permanent resident, he was arrested in March 2025 and eventually sent to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana. He has since graduated from the university.
In April, an immigration court with the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a “final” administrative removal order for Khalil. His lawyers earlier this month argued they have “new evidence” that the Trump administration “secretly engineered the outcome” of Khalil’s case “to make an example of him.”
Khalil has also filed a separate appeal with the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals asking it to reverse the removal order, arguing the ruling was rushed “without considering evidence.”
A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security called the appeals court’s decision a “significant victory” and said it would enforce Khalil’s removal order.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America,” the spokesperson said. “The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority with respect to Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property.”
The case is Mahmoud Khalil v. President United States of America, 25-2162, 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Philadelphia.
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