When attorneys for Mahmoud Khalil enter the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York on Wednesday, they will have one mission in mind: to get their client, a Palestinian activist, released from an ICE facility in Louisiana and back to New York to be closer to legal counsel and family.

A New York federal judge is set to hear pivotal questions in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of large Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University who now faces deportation after his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

While some legal professionals argue the U.S. can't deport green card holders for supporting terrorism, the law is clear.