A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out a lower court’s June order to release Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from detention, triggering questions among his supporters about whether the government can immediately re-detain Khalil for deportation.

In short, Khalil is safe from further detention — for about a month and a half, his legal team told The Intercept. Khalil is fighting two separate legal battles: one in federal court, and the second in immigration court.

“We understand there’s a lot of concern about whether ICE can go pick him up again right now,” said Brett Max Kaufman, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union and member of Khalil’s legal team. “Before the appeals process is over, that cannot happen.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Khalil, a green card holder, at his New York apartment in March and quickly flew him to a Louisiana detention center. He spent the next three months there while the government sought to deport him, missing the birth of his child.

Khalil was released in June after New Jersey District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled that the Trump administration’s detention of Khalil was likely illegal and violated his First Amendment rights. As a graduate student at Columbia University, Khalil had been a vocal participant in student activism opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza — putting a target on his back for the Trump administration, which has sought to crush advocacy for Palestine under the guise of combating antisemitism.

On Thursday, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which rules on appeals in New Jersey, Delaware, and........

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