New York, New York - Protestors gathered in New York's Foley Square on Wednesday to rally in support of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student who has been detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for protesting in solidarity with Palestinians.

Khalil, a green card holder and permanent US resident, was arrested on Sunday by immigration authorities and was transferred to a facility in Louisiana.

Hundreds of New Yorkers flooded Foley Square to urge his freedom, filling the air with chants of "Hands off our students now!" and "Release Mahmoud right now!"

Khalil was a leading figure in on-campus protests at Columbia that called on the university to divest from Israel amid the ongoing atrocities in Palestine.

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Throughout Wednesday's demonstration, activists sounded the alarm on what Khalil's arrest – which was set in motion and celebrated by President Donald Trump's administration – meant for American freedoms.

"If they're coming for [Khalil] today, they're coming for you tomorrow," Rev. Adriene Thorne of the Riverside Church told the crowd.

Speaking with TAG24, attendee Virginia Vitzthum warned: "This is the Trump administration fulfilling its promise to criminalize protest, attack immigrants, [and] make schools uncomfortable."

"That somebody who's a legal resident could be taken away, taken to Louisiana... it's terrifying," she added. "It's authoritarianism."

The rally coincided with Khalil's hearing at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, where his lawyers are asking the government to have him return to New York.

Khalil's wife, who is a US citizen, is currently eight months pregnant.

"Mahmoud has been ripped away from me for no reason at all," she told ABC News.

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"I am pleading with the world to continue to speak up against his unjust and horrific detention by the Trump administration."

Earlier this week, a judge temporarily blocked Khalil's deportation "unless and until the Court orders otherwise."

Trump has threatened Khalil's arrest is "the first of many to come," while Secretary of State Marco Rubio – who personally signed off on the ICE operation – brushed off growing concerns about the case's implications about the rights of protestors in new comments on Wednesday.

"This is not about free speech. This is about people that don't have a right to be in the United States to begin with," Rubio said, per The Hill. "No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card."