A federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that a judge had no jurisdiction to release Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate who the Trump administration alleges has terror ties, from immigration custody, the New York Post reported.
In a 2–1 ruling, a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ordered the dismissal of a habeas action that Khalil filed against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, challenging his detention. It vacated the lower court’s release order and cleared the way for immigration authorities to potentially detain him again.
U.S. circuit judges Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas wrote that under the Immigration and Nationality Act, Khalil’s claims must be raised through a petition for review following a final order of removal, rather than in a district court lawsuit.
“Our holdings vindicate essential principles of habeas and immigration law,” they wrote. “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, who holds a green card and is married to a U.S. citizen, led the Palestinian protests at Columbia University and was a spokesman for the campus encampment. Federal agents arrested Khalil, who is from Syria, on March 8, 2025.
He was held at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, La., until June 20, when U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, N.J., ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to release him from custody.
Marco Rubio, U.S. secretary of state, praised the court’s ruling in a statement on Thursday.
“For the fake news peddling misinformation about the appellate ruling for Mahmoud Khalil, here is our stance in simple terms—if you sympathize with terrorists, your presence is contrary to the national and foreign policy interests of the United States,” he said. “You are not welcome here.”
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, criticized the appeal court’s ruling in a statement on Thursday in which he framed Khalil’s ongoing legal case as a broader threat to free speech rights.
“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression. It was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” he stated. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest.”
“Mahmoud is free and must remain free,” he added.
