Appeals court reverses ruling that freed Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil from ICE detention

A federal appeals court has ruled that a judge lacked the authority to order the release of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention, marking a significant win for Donald Trump’s administration in its efforts to deport the pro-Palestinian activist.

The 2-1 decision, handed down by a panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, effectively paves the way for Khalil’s potential re-arrest.

The ruling ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit he had filed challenging his initial detention.

U.S. Circuit Judges Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, both appointed by Republican presidents, stated that under the Immigration and Nationality Act, Khalil’s claims should instead be heard through an appeal of a final order of removal from an immigration judge.

They wrote in an unsigned opinion: "The scheme Congress enacted governing immigration proceedings provides Khalil a meaningful forum in which to raise his claims later on—in a petition for review of a final order of removal."

Khalil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in Gaza, Khalil was arrested on March 8 by immigration agents in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan.

President Donald Trump had previously labelled such protests as antisemitic and vowed to deport foreign students involved, with Khalil becoming the first individual targeted by this policy.

Although initially detained in New York, Khalil was moved to New Jersey by immigration officials by the time his lawyer filed a lawsuit, leading to his case being transferred. He had previously been released from a Louisiana immigrant detention centre in June, following an order from U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, New Jersey, to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Khalil was stripped of his green card and arrested in front of his then-pregnant wife in their New York City apartment building on March 8. He was then sent to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, roughly 1,300 miles away from their home in New York.

Following his arrest, Khalil was accused of “antisemitic activities” for his role in campus-wide demonstrations against Israel’s war, allegations Khalil and his legal team have resoundingly rejected.

Officials concede that Khalil did not commit any crime, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sought to justify Khalil’s arrest by invoking a rarely used law claiming that Khalil’s presence in the United States undermines foreign policy interests of preventing antisemitism.