Lawyers for a Columbia University graduate student who has become the face of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on campus protests against Israel are expected to appear before a judge in Newark, New Jersey.

Protesters gathered outside of a hearing where Mahmoud Khalil's lawyers urged the court to release him. Protesters gathered outside of a hearing where Mahmoud Khalil's lawyers urged the court to release him.

Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil will remain behind bars in Louisiana at least until a U.S. judge decides whether the Palestinian activist should challenge his imprisonment in a federal court there or in New Jersey.

Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and legal U.S. resident, is fighting deportation after being detained by immigration officials over his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests.

Detained Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil remains in ICE custody despite his green card status. Khalil is appearing before a judge today. This comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio says 300 student visas have been revoked.

The government wants the detainee’s case heard in Louisiana, where an appellate judge may be friendlier. At a hearing in Newark, one of his lawyers called the situation “Kafkaesque.”

Speaking outside the U.S. Federal Court in Newark, New Jersey, Baher Azmy said he was hopeful the judge would move quickly on a decision on whether the case should be heard in the state rather than in Louisiana,

As U.S. authorities crack down on immigrants at universities in a fervor against pro-Palestinian protests, they quickly have shuttled some of those detained to remote facilities in Louisiana. Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil,