It is now up to a federal judge in Newark.

If a Columbia student deportation case will be heard in new Jersey or in Louisiana.

Attorneys for pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil argued today in court that the case should remain here, and said the federal government's push to have the case heard in Louisiana, where he's currently detained, is an effort to chill free speech.

Khalil is from Syria and is a legal permanent resident.

He hasn't been charged with a crime, but the federal government is attempting to remove him under a rarely used law that allows for non-citizens to be deported if their presence threatens U.S. foreign policy interests.

Allegations his legal team deny.

Raven Santana reports from outside the courthouse in Newark, where supporters today called for Khalil's release.

Please.

I'm good right now.

More than 200 people gathered at the steps of the U.S. District Court in Newark, where they demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student who was detained on March 8th due to his involvement in campus protests supporting Palestinian rights.

Khalil, who is a legal permanent resident and green card holder, was detained as part of President Trump's crackdown on so-called anti-American protests on campuses.

Today, his lawyers told the judge his case should be heard in new Jersey and not in Louisiana, where he's currently being held.

They spoke to the press after the hearing, sharing that the judge will issue a decision on jurisdiction shortly and will not hear bail arguments until the cases location is addressed.

We were here to insist that the court take jurisdiction of this case, bring him back to new Jersey, and then immediately thereafter rule on his request for release, request for bail, and rule on his broader petition that his detention is unconstitutional because, as we said in court, this is not any routine immigration case or habeas transfer case.

This is a case where the United States government has, created a policy targeting Palestinian activists and specifically Mahmood Khalil, for arrest, detention and potential removal.

It is anti-death, democratic, unamerican, illegal and unconstitutional to suppress speech, censor somebody, detain them, and attempt to deport them and revoke their green card for speaking their mind.

The reason they are fighting so hard on jurisdiction, as extraordinary as that is, is because they want to buy time.

They want to buy time in the hope that all of you will go away by time, and the hope that all these people will go away, and so that they can get away with what they're trying to do.

To Mr. Howell and to others.

And advocates I spoke with say they are now concerned that Ice agents will continue to target more students on campuses.

It is a place that people should feel safe, and that's the irony of it all.

I think there's a real, element of needing to decode and deconstruct the fear that the administration is wanting to place over places like higher and higher education, and we need to first grapple with the fact that that is one of the modes of, that is one of the fronts of this, of this battle is creating that, that fear.

And once we once we understand that people have to know their rights, they're doing nothing wrong by speaking out, then students, allies, folks can feel a little bit more, protected in their speech and in their organizing.

But I definitely do think that this is, this is a mind game in some ways for between the administration and between higher education, our non-negotiable.

Demands is for a release of Mahmoud Khalil and all the students who have been particularly targeted.

And detained in the last few weeks.

The Trump administration has arrested others who are here in the U.S. legally involved with student protest, including another student from Columbia and a PhD student at Tufts.

Khalil is due back in court before an immigration judge on April 8th.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.