WASHINGTON

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil accused the Trump administration of seeking to silence pro-Palestine voices by trying to re-detain him, after his attorneys appeared Tuesday before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to challenge the legality of his detention.

“We just finished a long hearing,” Khalil told reporters outside the court. “I feel confident, of course. The Trump administration is still trying to re-detain me. They’re trying to stop the federal court from looking at my case because they know they don’t have a case against me.”

Khalil, 30, a Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, is a lawful permanent resident married to a US citizen. He was detained in March without a warrant by immigration officers in New York City and transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, where he was held for months.

The Trump administration claimed his presence threatened US foreign policy without providing evidence, but a lower court ordered his release on bail in June and barred the government from detaining or deporting him.

“This case is not about Mahmoud Khalil,” he said. “This case is about every single person in this country, whether they are citizens or not — this case is about their freedom of speech and their ability to dissent, and their ability to speak up, especially about Palestine and the genocide that’s happening in Gaza.”

“They want to break me because they want to deport me to be out as soon as possible, so that others would fear speaking out. That's why I'm continuing to fight,” he added.

Khalil’s legal team appeared before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, asking judges to uphold lower court rulings that found the government’s actions likely unconstitutional and ordered his release on bail.

His attorney, Ramzi Kassem, co-director of the CLEAR project, said the court heard oral arguments on the government’s appeal challenging both Khalil’s release and the lower court’s decision striking down the administration’s deportation order.

“We’re continuing to press forth — in this court behind me, in the district court in New Jersey, and in immigration court in Louisiana — to vindicate Mahmoud’s constitutional rights and his right to remain here with his family as a lawful permanent resident,” Kassem said.

“What’s at stake is not just his right to speak up in defense of Palestinian human rights and his ability to stay here in this country with his US citizen wife and child, but everyone’s First Amendment rights and due process rights.”