Mahmoud Khalil to take case to US Supreme Court in bid to halt deportation

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who has been at the center of the Trump administration's efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists, will take his case to the Supreme Court, his legal team announced Friday.

The decision to go to the country's highest court comes after the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 6-5 decision issued just hours earlier that it will not revisit a ruling that opened the door to Khalil's deportation.

“Today’s decision is not the final word, and we still strongly believe in our arguments going forward,” Brett Max Kaufman, the senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said in a statement.

"Federal courts must have the power to step in when the government exploits our country’s immigration system to punish people for their constitutionally protected speech. 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 added.

Khalil's attorneys last week filed a separate appeal of the Board of Immigration Appeal’s (BIA) removal order against Khalil, asking that the proceedings be terminated in their entirety. The appeal was lodged in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the court to annul the decision because the judge in the case allegedly refused to consider relevant evidence.

The challenge also alleges sweeping misconduct in the case to include claims of government officials interfering in the proceedings by pressuring the immigration judge who presided over the case, which took place in an immigration appeals court overseen by the Justice Department rather than an independent judicial body.

“We hope the Supreme Court will recognize how dangerous the Third Circuit’s decision was, not just for Mahmoud but for other non-citizens the administration has its vengeful sights upon,” said Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Khalil, a spokesperson for pro-Gaza protests at the university and a legal US resident, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March 2025 and held for 104 days.

A federal judge later ruled his detention unconstitutional. However, the Trump administration won an appeal earlier in March of this year, allowing the case to proceed in immigration court.