Attorneys for Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia University, filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, October 19, 2026. The petition asks the court to halt a lower court ruling that allows for his potential re-arrest and deportation and to review the legal arguments in his case.
The filing challenges a decision from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The appeals court ruled that federal law required Khalil’s detention to be first reviewed by an immigration court, which operates under the executive branch, rather than a federal district court, which is part of the judicial branch. Khalil’s lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to affirm that noncitizens can sue in federal court if they believe their detention by immigration officials is a retaliation for exercising free speech rights protected by the First Amendment.
Khalil, a U.S. permanent resident, was arrested in March 2025 in a student housing complex where he lived with his wife, a U.S. citizen. At the time of his arrest, he was a spokesperson for student groups involved in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.
Following his arrest, Khalil was held in immigration detention centers in New Jersey and Louisiana for over three months before a lower court ordered his release in June 2025, a decision later overturned by the 3rd Circuit.
During a press conference on Monday, Khalil commented on the case. “If the Trump administration can punish someone for their pro-Palestine speech, this or any future administration can punish anyone for any speech,” he said.
The Trump administration has stated that it has the legal authority to deport noncitizens who engage in activism it considers a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests. President Donald Trump campaigned for re-election in 2024 on a platform that included implementing new policies concerning student protest movements that began in 2023.
Khalil’s case has proceeded through two separate legal systems. In the federal court system, the 3rd Circuit voted 6-5 against reconsidering his case. In the immigration court system, the Board of Immigration Appeals denied his appeal in April and issued a final order of removal. That order is on hold pending the outcome of his federal appeals.
On Monday, faculty and staff at Columbia University held a demonstration outside the campus gates. Participants held signs with portraits of Khalil and another student, Mohsen Mahdawi, to protest what they described as students being taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They called for the university to support the students and to reopen its gates to the public, which were closed during the 2023 protest period.
