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.

The arrest of a Palestinian activist who helped organize campus protests of the war in Gaza has sparked questions about whether foreign students and green card holders are protected against being deported from the U.

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.