Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil asks US to review deportation case

Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil on Monday asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that opened the door for US President Donald Trump’s administration to rearrest and deport the Palestinian activist.

Khalil’s lawyers asked the justices to take up his case after the Philadelphia-based 3rd US Circuit ‌Court of Appeals ruled that federal immigration law barred a lower-court judge from ordering his release from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.

Khalil was among the most prominent foreign students to be arrested last year as the Trump administration pursued a campaign to detain and deport non-citizens who engaged in pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses.

His lawyers say the Supreme Court should make clear immigration law does not prevent non-citizens from pursuing cases arguing they have been detained to punish them for speech that is protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment.