Mahmoud Khalil asks the Supreme Court to let federal judges hear his challenge to his immigration detention

Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident who was detained by immigration authorities in March 2025, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, to review a federal appeals court ruling that ordered his habeas corpus case dismissed, according to the petition posted by his lawyers at the Center for Constitutional Rights.¹² As of Oct. 20, the court’s online docket did not yet list the petition under a case number; it showed only his earlier extension request, No. 26A90, in which Justice Samuel Alito extended the filing deadline to Oct. 19.³

The question

The petition asks whether the Immigration and Nationality Act takes away federal courts’ power, in a habeas case, to review a noncitizen’s claim that detention and removal proceedings were used to punish and retaliate against him, where he argues the usual review process could not adequately review his “now or never” First and Fifth Amendment claims. If so, it asks whether that loss of habeas jurisdiction is unconstitutional as applied to him.¹

The petition asks the justices to grant review and hear the case alongside Trump v. Suri, No. 26-380, or to hold both petitions until the Fifth Circuit rules on Khalil’s pending challenge to his removal order.¹

How the case got here

Federal agents arrested Khalil at his New York City apartment on March 8, 2025, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that he was removable under a foreign-policy provision of immigration law, the Third Circuit’s opinion says. His lawyer filed a habeas petition hours later; the case was later transferred to federal court in New Jersey.⁴ The government later added a second charge alleging misrepresentation on his green card application, a charge his petition describes as an extension of the government’s retaliation against him.¹

A district judge in New Jersey issued a preliminary injunction on June 11, 2025, and ordered him released on June 20 after 104 days in detention, according to the petition.¹ On Jan. 15, 2026, a split three-judge Third Circuit panel held that the district court had habeas jurisdiction but that 8 U.S.C. 1252(b)(9) stripped it of subject matter jurisdiction. It ordered the petition dismissed, saying Khalil could raise his claims “later on” in a petition for review of a final removal order. Judge Freeman dissented in part.⁴ The full court denied rehearing 6-5 on May 22.¹

An immigration judge found him removable in September 2025, and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed on April 9, 2026, the government’s July filing says. Khalil filed a petition for review in the Fifth Circuit on May 14.⁵

The two sides

Khalil’s petition says the Third Circuit’s decision conflicts with a Fourth Circuit ruling in the case of Badar Khan Suri, and that review through a removal appeal cannot remedy detention that has already occurred.¹ In a statement, Khalil said the case is about whether he “and all immigrants in this country” can challenge the administration’s actions.²

The government opposed giving Khalil more time to file, calling the Third Circuit decision “plainly correct” and his suit “a collateral challenge that should have never gotten off the ground to start.”⁵ In its own Sept. 21 petition in the Suri case, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote that the immigration law channels such challenges into petitions for review “as the Third Circuit correctly held.” Now that the circuits are divided, it said, “granting certiorari in Khalil is appropriate.”⁶

What the records do not show

• As of Oct. 20, the Supreme Court’s docket did not list Khalil’s petition or a case number for it.³
• The government has not filed a response to Khalil’s petition; its response in Suri is due Nov. 20, 2026.⁷
• No court has ruled on the merits of Khalil’s First Amendment retaliation claim; the Third Circuit decided only jurisdiction.¹⁴
• The Fifth Circuit has not ruled on his petition for review of the removal order; briefing is set to end in early November.¹