Crowd gathers on Upper West Side in support of Mahmoud Khalil

UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- With the deadly war between Israel and Gaza back on, activists who spoke at the Society for Ethical Culture on Saturday say you can expect more protests.

But with the Trump administration cracking down on pro-Palestinian student activists like Mahmoud Khalil, the message of those protests has expanded to include protecting first amendment rights.

"Is the Trump administration going to get away with basically ignoring the law and deporting people for what they say, not for what they do?" said Layan Fuleihan.

"We know this is a test case for how far the government can take punishing organizers," added Shezza Dallal of CLEAR, and a member of Khalil's legal team.

Dallal says they continue to work to get him back home from an ICE detention facility in Louisiana, at the very least on bail, but also set a precedent in his defense.

"The government is trying to condition liberty and immigration status on agreement with its political views and priorities," said Dallal.

Actress and Activist Susan Sarandon offered her support for student protestors like Khalil.

"What is happening in Palestine cannot ever be normalized and that's why we're here tonight," Sarandon said.

Another student activist now fighting his recent expulsion from Columbia for his role in last year's protests, says there's also concern tonight about the University agreeing to the Trump administration's demands in order to restore federal funding.

"We need to get the money back for our labs and our workers in a way that doesn't make us throw our entire value system out the window," said Grant Miner.

Khalil's attorneys have said he doesn't support Hamas, as the Trump administration claims, but the administration says it plans to deport non-citizen student activists who support Hamas... and call for more policy changes at Universities including stricter rules for protests.

Those gathered on Saturday to say are planning to join a massive demonstration two weeks from now in Washington.

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