Freed Palestinian Activist Could Be Rearrested, Appeals Court Rules

NEW YORK CITY — A federal appeals panel on Thursday ruled that a judge in a lower court had no jurisdiction to release Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail — opening the door for federal authorities to rearrest and possibly deport the activist.

A three-judge panel of the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled in a 2-1 decision that deportation challenges needed to be made by filing a petition for review of a final order of removal with a federal appeals court, not a lower-level district court, according to CNN.

“That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple—not zero or two,” the panel wrote. “But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”

Khalil, a legal permanent U.S. resident and graduate student who served as spokesperson for campus activists in 2024 during large demonstrations against Israel's treatment of Palestinians and the war in Gaza, was detained on March 8, 2025 in the lobby of his campus-owned apartment and was held in detention in Jena, Louisiana, for 104 days, during which he missed the birth of his son.

In June, Khalil walked out of the immigration center after US District Judge Michael Farbiarz of New Jersey, ordered the US Department of Homeland Security to release him from custody.

Khalil could be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or Syria, where he was born.

His attorneys on Thursday said they were disappointed by and strongly disagree with the panel's ruling.