The Trump administration is defending the arrest of Khalil by immigration agents this month in a case that tests the government's efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists.
Khalil's lawyers have asked Farbiarz to release him from jail in Louisiana while he challenges the government's effort to deport him in a separate case in immigration court. They say Trump's administration improperly targeted him for his political views and prominence in student protests.
They say Khalil, 30, should be with his wife Noor Abdalla, a U.S. citizen who attended Friday's hearing, for the birth of their first child in April. He spent several hours in a New Jersey detention facility after his arrest in neighboring Manhattan.
The government has asked the judge either to move the case to a federal court in Louisiana or to dismiss the proceeding so Khalil can challenge his arrest in Louisiana.