A lawyer for the U.S. government on Wednesday said a federal judge in New York does not have jurisdiction to hear a Columbia University student's challenge to his arrest by immigration authorities. The case has become a flashpoint of the Trump administration's pledge to deport pro-Palestinian college activists.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched downtown while a spokeswoman for President Trump said the president had the authority to detain Mahmoud Khalil.

The protests kicked off following the Saturday arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took him into custody at his university-owned residence near Columbia’s