Mahmoud Khalil

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. government to free former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention.

Attorneys for the Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil requested that a federal judge immediately release him on bail, or else transfer him to New Jersey to be closer to his family, as the Trump administration seeks to keep him in custody in Louisiana.

A Columbia graduate facing deportation over his pro-Palestinian activism on campus has outlined the “irreparable harm” caused by his continued detention as a federal judge weighs his release.

The Palestinian rights advocate spoke at length as part of a 10-hour hearing Thursday as the U.S. attempts to deport him. A ruling in his case was not made.

Emails shared with The Associated Press say federal immigration authorities denied Mahmoud Khalil’s request for a temporary release from detention to attend the birth of his first child.

The federal government has sufficient grounds to deport Mahmoud Khalil – the former Columbia University student-activist and green-card holder currently detained in Louisiana — an immigration judge found after a tense hearing at the LaSalle immigration court in Jena on Friday.

The judge gave Khalil until April 23 to request a stay of his deportation and said that if his attorneys miss the deadline, she will order him deported either to Syria or to Algeria

Mahmud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student and a permanent legal resident of the United States is currently being held in a Louisiana ICE detention center.

A federal judge has rejected a Trump administration bid to move Mahmoud Khalil’s legal case to Louisiana.

Since last week, Khalil — a Syrian-born Palestinian and permanent U.S. resident— has been locked up in the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, a privately-run immigration lockup with an average daily detainee population of nearly 1,200.