Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate who is facing potential deportation, asked the Supreme Court on Monday to hear his case.
Khalil is challenging a ruling in January that opened the door him being once again detained after winning release from a Lousiana detention center.
New Jersey Federal Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled in June 2025 that the Trump administration’s detention of Khalil was likely unconstitutional and ordered him released, but the Third Circuit Court of Appeals overruled that decision, finding federal judges do not have jurisdiction over such cases.
The appeals court said federal judges do not have the authority to review the legality of ICE detention until the immigration process has concluded. Khalil’s lawyers argued that decision could deprive immigrants of the right to habeas corpus, the legal process that allows a person in detention to challenge the lawfulness of their imprisonment.
Khalil’s formal petition asking the Supreme Court to hear his case does not guarantee the justices will agree to consider the matter.
But his lawyers argued in court filings that a person’s ability to challenge the legality of their detention is a vital check on using imprisonment as a tool to punish free speech, which Khalil has repeatedly accused President Trump of doing.
“This is why the access to habeas is so important. We’re operating from a baseline understanding that the government cannot act in this way, and it’s blatantly unconstitutional. The question is, will we have access to a court to prove it?” Baher Azmy, one of Khalil’s lawyers and legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, briefed reporters on Monday.
The U.S. Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment.
Khalil, who became the face of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia when he was a student there, was taken into ICE custody in March 2025 based on the Trump administration’s allegations that he posed a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests and months later, that he had omissions on his green card application. He is lawful permanent resident of the United States and married to an American citizen, with whom he has a son.
The Palestinian activist spent 104 days at the Louisiana detention center, during which he missed the birth of his first child.
Outside of the federal court process, Khalil is also in the process of challenging a final deportation order through the immigration process. He appealed that order to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is known as the most conservative federal appeals court in the country.
Khalil told reporters on Monday that his case is “way bigger than me.”
“I see it as a way that this administration would continue to go after everybody that opposes them,” Khalil said of if the Supreme Court does not hear his case. “It’s not only about whether I get to stay in this country. You know, I’m fighting this, for the most part, because I can’t afford to lose.”
But Khalil expressed doubts about the next steps in his legal battle.
“The outlook for any legal question that goes to the Supreme Court, it’s not great,” he said. “We think it should be a slam-dunk case under normal circumstances, but given the politicization and how this government is assaulting the law — and the rule of law — then that’s when we say, the outlook is not great.”