A federal judge ruled this week that the government cannot hold the Columbia University graduate under the rarely invoked law it used to detain him.

An initial deadline has passed for the Trump administration to appeal to a federal judge why a Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist should be kept at a detention center in Central Louisiana.

Khalil was detained in the lobby of his apartment building by federal agents, with DHS and Secretary of State Marco Rubio later saying that he had been detained over his actions as a leading figure in pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia's campus, which go against U.S. foreign policy.