Anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil to appeal to US Supreme Court in last bid to avoid deportation

(May 23, 2026 / JNS)  A lawyer for anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil pledged to appeal to the US Supreme Court after an appeals court rejected on Friday a bid to overturn the decision of the Trump administration to deport his client from the country.

The Philadelphia-based 3rd ‌US Circuit Court of Appeals decided to leave in place a ruling stating that a district judge lacked jurisdiction to release Khalil from detention last year, Reuters reported.

The 31-year-old Columbia University graduate was first arrested in March 2025 at his apartment in New York City, for his part in organizing disruptive protests at the school.

US District Court Judge Michael Farbiarz in New Jersey had ordered Khalil’s release after 104 days in custody, finding fatal flaws with the government’s reasoning for holding him.

A federal appeals panel later overturned the judge’s decision, ordering the case to wind its way through immigration court before it could be challenged in federal court.

In April, the Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that Khalil, a US permanent resident and Algerian citizen born in Syria of Palestinian heritage, is subject to deportation, paving the way for his removal from the United States.

His attorneys, however, insist he cannot be removed while a separate federal court case plays out.

“That ruling green-lights holding someone in prolonged, brutal detention conditions without access to meaningful judicial review in order to punish them and deter others from dissenting from US foreign policy,” Baher Azmy, a lawyer for Khalil at the Center for Constitutional Rights, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

A spokesperson of the US Department of Homeland Security told Reuters that in the wake of the 3rd Circuit’s decision, it “will work to enforce Khalil’s lawful removal order.”

“We would encourage him to use the CBP Home app and self-deport now before he is arrested, deported, ‌and never ⁠given a chance to return,” the spokesperson added.

Khalil is going through deportation procedures on the grounds that he omitted key information on his application for permanent residency, including his work with the terror-tied UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from June to November 2023 and his time with the British embassy in Syria.