Mahmoud Khalil takes detention fight to US Supreme Court

NEW YORK (MNTV) – Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student and Palestinian rights advocate, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case, escalating a legal fight over immigration detention and the Trump administration’s treatment of pro-Palestinian activists.

Khalil, a U.S. permanent resident born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, was arrested at his Columbia residence in March 2025. 

His detention opened a broader campaign against foreign students and scholars over Palestinian advocacy. He spent more than three months in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Louisiana before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release while his immigration case continued.

“This fight is not only about whether I get to stay in this country,” Khalil said at a news conference Monday. 

“It’s really about whether anyone in this country can speak out for Palestinians without being punished for it.”

The administration has invoked a McCarthy-era law to argue that Khalil’s advocacy undermined U.S. foreign policy. 

The dispute so far centers on whether federal district courts can order the release of people in immigration detention while their cases proceed; the courts have not yet ruled on the constitutionality of the law itself.

Khalil’s attorneys and immigrant rights groups warn that a ruling limiting district courts could leave people who say they were unlawfully detained with no effective way to win release, potentially affecting thousands held in lengthy proceedings. 

The State, Justice and Homeland Security departments did not respond to requests for comment.