The Department of Homeland Security says it is preparing to rearrest Mahmoud Khalil, a U.S. lawful permanent resident who helped organize pro-Palestinian demonstrations linked to Columbia University, and move forward with deportation proceedings that could send him to Algeria. The announcement came after a federal appeals court said a New Jersey judge lacked jurisdiction over an order that had led to his release from immigration detention.
The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to rearrest Mahmoud Khalil, a U.S. green card holder who has been prominent in pro-Palestinian campus activism connected to Columbia University, and pursue his removal from the United States, according to comments by DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin.
Speaking Wednesday night on NewsNation in an interview with Katie Pavlich, McLaughlin said officials were planning to take Khalil back into custody and that Algeria was the likely destination. In the interview, she described the case as a warning to noncitizens, saying: “It’s a reminder for those who are in this country on a visa or on a Green Card that you are a guest in this country, act like it,” and adding, “It is a privilege, not a right to be in this country to live or to study. And if you are pushing propaganda that relishes the killings of Americans or promotes terrorists, the door’s that way.”
Khalil was detained by DHS agents in early March 2025 in New York, a move the department said at the time was tied to his role in campus protests and what it described as activities “aligned to Hamas,” a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. Civil liberties groups and Khalil’s lawyers have disputed the government’s characterization and have argued the detention was retaliation for protected political speech.
Around the time of Khalil’s detention, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that the administration would take immigration action against alleged supporters of Hamas, writing: “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Khalil was later released from immigration detention in June 2025 after a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release. But a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled last week that the New Jersey judge lacked jurisdiction to issue that order, Reuters reported, a decision that DHS officials say clears the way to detain Khalil again as his immigration case continues.
The case has become a flashpoint in a broader legal and political fight over the government’s authority to revoke or challenge the immigration status of students and permanent residents involved in pro-Palestinian activism, and over how far federal agencies can go in citing foreign policy and national security concerns to justify removal proceedings.
