Mahmoud Khalil on how his fight to stay in the US is larger than himself

0 October 21, 2026 17:00

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil joins CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room to talk about his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Khalil also responds to a new Department of Homeland Security statement about the allegations against him.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident who is married to a U.S. citizen, was arrested in March 2025 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in his Columbia campus apartment. He quickly became the face of the Trump administration crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

He then spent 104 days in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child, before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release.

0:00 Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil takes deportation fight to Supreme Court
1:11 Khalil: "It’s about whether anyone has the right to speak out without fearing retaliation"
2:23 Is Khalil optimistic about taking his case to a conservative Supreme Court?
5:30 DHS statement on Mahmoud Khalil, and Khalil’s response: "Baseless allegations and smears"
8:36 CNN chief Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic on the question before the Court

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