Columbia agitator Mahmoud Khalil to appeal deportation case to Supreme Court
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University Gaza camp agitator and graduate arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), plans to appeal his immigration case to the Supreme Court in an effort to stop deportation proceedings against him.
On Friday, a federal appeals court declined to reconsider Khalil’s case, prompting a spokesperson for him to announce that his legal team would seek Supreme Court review.
The 31-year-old was arrested last year, and the Trump administration has accused him of antisemitism tied to his involvement in anti-Israeli protests at Columbia University in 2024. Khalil reportedly distributed pro-Hamas flyers during the demonstrations.
Khalil, who is married to an American citizen, was ordered deported after the State Department said he lied about previous employment with UNRWA. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit declined to revisit a January ruling from a three-judge panel that allowed him to be detained again.
The court’s decision focused mainly on which court system has authority over the issues raised in Khalil’s case. His legal team argued the matter belonged in federal district court, while the government said it should remain in immigration court proceedings.
Because the court declined to rehear the case, the chances have increased that the legal barriers preventing Khalil’s deportation could be removed.
“We hope the Supreme Court will recognize how dangerous the Third Circuit’s decision was, not just for Mahmoud but for other noncitizens the administration has its vengeful sights upon,” Khalil’s lawyer, Baher Azmy, said, according to the New York Times.
The DOJ welcomed the appeals court’s decision not to rehear the case.
“Should he choose to pursue it further, we will continue to defend against this baseless challenge, as well as other similarly baseless challenges nationwide,” the department said in a statement.
