Statement from ADC Interim President Jenin Younes on Mahmoud Khalil Decision

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22 2026
[email protected]

Washington, D.C. – “Today’s decision denying rehearing en banc is a dangerous abdication of the judiciary’s duty to protect constitutional rights when the government targets people for their speech. It gives the executive carte blanche to use immigration law to punish people for expressing views the government disfavors, which is exactly what the First Amendment prohibits. Courts must not permit immigration proceedings to become a vehicle for punishing political expression.

ADC’s amicus brief warned the Third Circuit of precisely this danger. We argued that retaliatory detention inflicts immediate and irreparable First Amendment harm, and that forcing Khalil to wait until the end of removal proceedings to obtain meaningful judicial review would allow the government to silence protected speech first and answer for it only after the damage is done. Five judges thought rehearing was warranted but, unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. Three of them wrote a dissent that encapsulates what is at stake: ‘Rather than disturbing settled precedent and abdicating our duty to meaningfully review Khalil’s constitutional claims, we should be granting the petition for rehearing en banc.’

This case is not only about Mahmoud Khalil. It is about whether the government can use detention and deportation as tools to intimidate immigrants, Palestinians, students, and all people of conscience into silence.”

About ADC

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the United States, founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk.  ADC’s mission is to defend and promote the human rights, civil rights, and liberties of at least 3.7 million Arab Americans residing in the United States. Through its work, ADC fights discrimination, enhances public understanding of Arab history and culture, and partners with marginalized communities globally to advance social justice.