A former Columbia University graduate who has been fighting deportation over his participation in pro-Palestinian protests was ordered released from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility by a federal judge.

Mahmoud Khalil was denied release on Friday by a judge who, earlier in the week, had rejected the Trump administration’s main legal basis for seeking to deport and detain the pro-Palestinian activist.

A U.S. judge on Friday denied Mahmoud Khalil's request to be released from detention, after federal prosecutors changed their rationale for holding the Columbia graduate student as part of their crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.