Lawyers seek release of Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, arguing that his arrest was illegal. He was back in court.

Mahmoud Khalil, the detained Palestinian activist who has become the public face of the Columbia University protests, got to hold his newborn child for the first time on Thursday ahead of his next

Khalil, who was in the country legally, was detained by ICE agents on March 8 over his role in campus protests at the New York City university.

A group of protesters headed Thursday from New Orleans to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in LaSalle Parish to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil.

Mahmoud Khalil, the detained Palestinian activist who has become the public face of the Columbia University protests, got to hold his newborn child for the first time on Thursday ahead of his next

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who the Trump administration has targeted for deportation after he helped organize pro-Palestinian protests as a student at Columbia University, met his infant son for the first time, prior to his immigration hearing Thursday in Louisiana.

Mahmoud Khalil has been held at an ICE detention center in Louisiana since March 8, when federal authorities took him from his Columbia University apartment building.

The Trump administration has quietly revoked thousands of student visas across the country since March, wreaking havoc on colleges nationwide, but the students who have fought back and sued the government are winning in court.