A U.S. federal judge said President Donald Trump's administration's efforts to expel Prestin student activist Mahmoud Khalil may be unconstitutional.

New Jersey District Judge Michael Farbiarz wrote Wednesday that the administration claimed Khalil posed a threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy unlikely to succeed.

"Does an ordinary person have a feeling that he can evacuate from the United States because he "compromising (D)' the United States' "foreign policy interests" (that is, because he compromised the U.S. relations with other countries--when the Secretary did not determine that his actions affected U.S. relations with foreign countries?" Fabiaz wrote. "Probably not."

Fabiaz did not immediately have a question on whether Khalil violated Khalil's First Amendment rights. He has not ordered the immediate release of Khalil, citing questions about his application for permanent residence.

The judge is expected to issue further steps in the coming days.

The ruling against the administration will be the latest legal setback in the Trump administration’s controversial efforts to combat the U.S. crackdown on Pro-Palestine activism with national security and anti-Semitism.

But critics accused the Trump administration of infringing fundamental constitutional rights in its efforts to do so.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States, is the first high-profile arrest of the Trump administration in its efforts to expel student protesters against Israel's demonstrations in the Gaza War.

Khalil is a former graduate student who served as a spokesperson for anti-war protests at Columbia University. But on March 8, the 30-year-old was arrested at the student housing building in New York City, while his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, filmed the incident.

He then moved from a detention center in New Jersey to one in Jena, Louisiana, while his attorney worked hard to determine his position. He was still imprisoned in a Jena facility when the U.S. government sought deportation.

In a public statement, Khalil said his detention was part of opposition to U.S. support for the Israeli war, which was described as genocide by human rights groups and UN experts.

Civil Liberties also said Khalil's detention was based on his political views rather than any criminal act. Harrier was not charged with any crime.

In Louisiana, Harrier continued to face an immigration court that said he was deported. But in another case in the U.S. federal court in Newark, New Jersey, Khalil's attorney is arguing about a petition for habeas protection: In other words, such cases argue that their client has been illegally detained.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio acted on behalf of the Trump administration and used the Ompribration and Nortiality Act of 1952 as the legal basis for Khalil's detention.

The Cold War law stipulates that the Secretary of State can expel a foreign nation if the person is considered to constitute a “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequence.”

However, the law is rarely used and has raised concerns about conflict through the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of speech, regardless of citizenship.

Judge Farbiarz appears to agree, warning that the Trump administration's justifications seem to meet the criteria of "constitutional ambiguity."

This, in turn, means Khalil's petition "is likely determined by the merits of his claim" that the government's actions were unconstitutional.

Khalil's legal team expressed appreciation for the judge's order, and later wrote in a statement: "The District Court holds what we already know: Secretary Rubio's immigration law weaponized to punish Mahmoud and others like him may be unconstitutional."

Khalil is one of several high-profile students, and the case has tested the constitutional scope of the Trump administration's actions.

Other international students were detained for their involvement in pro-Palestinian politics following the legal challenge, such as Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk and Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi.

But Khalil was still in custody. The government has denied a temporary release request for Khalil, which will allow him to witness his son's birth in April.

It also tried to stop his newborn son from holding during visits at the Louisiana Detention Center.

"I'm angry at the cruelty and inhumanity of this system," Khalil's wife Abdalla said in a statement.

She noted that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) denied the family’s “most basic human rights” after she flew over 1,000 miles to visit his Louisiana with her newborn son.

A judge blocked ICE efforts last week to allow Khalil to hold his son for the first time after his birth.