Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian-born US permanent resident and activist, appeared Monday in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit seeking to affirm a lower court’s ruling that blocked his deportation and authorized his release from detention.

His legal team from the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) argues the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have engaged in retaliatory enforcement targeting his speech and advocacy related to Palestinian rights. Bobby Hodgson, assistant legal director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, an ACLU affiliate, says that “The law is on our side: in the United States, ideas are not illegal, and government officials can’t weaponize a vague immigration law to incarcerate

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