Hundreds of protesters chanted “Release Mahmoud Khalil now!” as they gathered by a giant American flag on Saturday in Times Square to demand the release of Khalil, a former Columbia University student who the Trump administration is attempting to deport after he led pro-Palestinian protests in New York.

Khalil has been held at a federal immigration facility in Louisiana for weeks as a legal battle to keep him in the country plays out. 

“The Trump administration has imprisoned Mahmoud Khalil not for any crime,” said protester Layan Fuleihan of Queens. “But for only one reason: because he dared to dissent with U.S. foreign policy.”

Fuleihan said she came to the rally in direct response to a ruling Friday by an immigration judge in Louisiana, in which the judge said Khalil can be forced out of the United States because he satisfies the requirements for deportation as a national security risk with “potentially serious foreign policy consequences.”

She fears the ruling is an attack on democracy and the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

“This is a horrible precedent for the Trump administration to set,” she said. “They are basically saying anyone who disagrees with them is eligible to be punished by the state and removed from the country.”

Khalil was detained by federal agents on March 8 in the lobby of his Manhattan apartment, which is owned by Columbia University, as part of a crackdown on students who took part in pro-Palestinian campus protests last spring against the war in Gaza.

“If they can attack Mahmoud Khalil for exercising his rights, then they can attack any of us,” said protester Salma Allam. “This is a moment when every single person who cares about this democracy needs to be in the streets with us. We are not going to stand for our immigrant community, for our students to be attacked for doing what is right.”

The protesters eventually took their message to the streets of Manhattan, marching from Times Square to Columbus Circle.

Counter-protester Raul Rivera of Brooklyn proudly displayed his Trump banner in Times Square and believes the judge in Louisiana made the right decision against Khalil.  

“In America, you get a chance, he had a chance,” said Rivera. “He had a chance and he blew it! He didn’t honor his green card and now he’s gotta go back. And he’s gone through the court system and he’s been vetted now correctly and they realize he can’t stay here. He has to go back and anybody that does what he did should go back.”

After Friday’s court ruling in Louisiana, Khalil’s attorney told a New Jersey federal judge his client will appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Meantime federal judges in New York and New Jersey have ordered the government not to deport Khalil while his case plays out in several courts.