Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil appeals to US Supreme Court

Mahmoud Khalil, targeted for deportation by the Trump administration over his pro-Palestinian activism, will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyer announced on Friday (April 18).

The decision came after a federal appeals court, in a 6-5 vote, denied a motion for rehearing in the case concerning Khalil's immigration detention.

Since his arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March 2025, Khalil has pursued two separate legal tracks.

The first challenges his detention on civil liberties grounds, arguing that his free speech rights as a lawful permanent resident were violated. In June 2025, a federal judge ruled in Khalil's favor, ordering his release and barring deportation. A federal appeals court later ruled that the original judge lacked jurisdiction.

After Friday's ruling, the case will go to the Supreme Court.

"Today's decision is not the last word, and we remain confident in our arguments," Brett Max Kaufman, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said in a statement. "Federal courts must have the power to step in when the government uses the immigration system to punish people for constitutionally protected speech. If the Trump administration can target, arrest, detain, and deport Mahmoud for his speech, they can do it to anyone who expresses views they disagree with."

Separately, Khalil's legal team is also appealing a deportation order before U.S. immigration courts. Last month, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a final removal order, but Khalil's lawyers are appealing.

In an appeal filed last week, his attorneys argued that new evidence shows "procedural irregularities" in his case. They cited a New York Times report revealing that Khalil's file was flagged for high priority before reaching the BIA, suggesting the case was being "fast-tracked." The report also disclosed that three BIA judges recused themselves. While the reasons were not disclosed, experts familiar with the board's procedures said such a recusal rate is extremely rare.

Khalil and his legal team have long maintained that the Trump administration is using him as a "test case" to crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters through immigration enforcement.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act targeting Khalil, which allows deportation of individuals deemed a national security threat based on "past, present, or future beliefs, statements, or associations that are otherwise lawful." The administration later added that Khalil had failed to disclose his former employment with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on his immigration application. The BIA ruled that both grounds justified his deportation.

Khalil has never been charged with a crime, and the administration has presented no evidence that he poses a national security threat. In a statement last week, Khalil said: "The administration wants to arrest, detain, and deport me to intimidate everyone who speaks out for Palestine across this country, and they are willing to break long-standing American rules and procedures to do it."