The Department of Justice had moved to have a petition that claims Khalil's detention violates his Constitutional rights dismissed.

Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the encampment protests at Columbia University last spring, was detained on March 8 at his student apartment building.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Mahmoud Khalil's case should be heard in New Jersey despite the Trump administration's efforts to move it to Louisiana. CBS News New York's Ali Bauman reports.

Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist detained by ICE, are fighting to keep his case in N.J.

A federal district court declined to say whether the US government’s case against Mahmoud Khalil, the prominent pro-Palestinian activist detained by immigration officers, should be heard in New Jersey.

A federal court in Newark will determine whether the United States can deport Mahmoud Khalil in what could be a landmark case on civil rights.

The Trump administration has sought to deport Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil for leading the pro-Palestinian protests and sit-ins at the Ivy League institution.

The decision offers a venue compromise in the bellwether case, while Khalil's legal team seeks to release him from detention and block his deportation.

The opinion, unless appealed by the government, would clear the way for Judge Michael Fabiarz to decide the more substantive issues of Khalil's continued confinement.