A US judge on Wednesday ordered that a detained Columbia University student be allowed to have private phone calls with lawyers challenging his arrest by immigration authorities.

Mahmoud Khalil’s case has become a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s pledge to deport pro-Palestinian college activists. Khalil’s lawyers argue the arrest violated his right to free speech under the US Constitution’s First Amendment and have urged his release.

At a hearing in Manhattan federal court, Khalil’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem said his client had been allowed just one call with his legal team from immigration detention in Louisiana. Kassem said the call was cut off prematurely and was on a line recorded and monitored by the government.

US District Judge Jesse Furman ruled that Khalil, 29, and his lawyers should have one phone call today and another one tomorrow covered by attorney-client privilege, meaning the government would not have access to their conversation. Furman on Monday temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation.

Furman said the calls would help Khalil’s lawyers prepare a revised petition challenging the constitutionality of his arrest on Saturday evening by Department of Homeland Security agents outside his university residence in Manhattan.

“Mr. Khalil was identified, targeted, detained and is being processed for deportation on account of his advocacy for Palestinian rights,” Kassem said in court.

Brandon Waterman, a lawyer for the government, said he had not been aware of any issues with Khalil’s access to his lawyers but would look into it.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan, holding signs reading “Release Mahmoud Khalil” and chanting “Down, down with deportation, up, up with liberation.”

Khalil, who is of Palestinian origin, came to the US on a student visa in 2022 and became a permanent resident last year.

He became a prominent member of Columbia’s protest movement against Israel’s military assault on Gaza. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed over 48 000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

US President Donald Trump has alleged on social media that Khalil supported Hamas but his administration has not charged him with a crime and has not provided any evidence to show Khalil’s alleged support for the group.

The judge, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, has the authority to order Khalil released from detention if he finds his rights were violated, according to legal experts. Even if Khalil is released, deportation proceedings could nonetheless continue in a separate immigration court.

Khalil would have the right to appeal an unfavorable ruling, a potentially lengthy process.

In a statement issued by Khalil’s lawyers, his wife, who asked not to be named citing safety concerns, said her parents moved to the US Midwest from Syria seeking safety and stability.

“But here I am, 40 years after my parents immigrated here, and just weeks before I’m due to give birth to our first child and I feel more unsafe and unstable than I have in my entire life,” Khalil’s wife said.