When attorneys for Mahmoud Khalil enter a courthouse on Wednesday, they will have one mission in mind: to get their client, a Palestinian activist, released.

A federal judge has set an expedited briefing schedule for Mahmoud Khalil -- the Palestinian activist who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the campus of Columbia University, despite possessing a green card -- saying "there is some need for speed here.

Protests are growing in New York after the ICE arrest of a Palestinian activist over the weekend. President Trump says his arrest is in direct response to the campus protests at Columbia University last year.