The Trump administration is continuing with its efforts to deport Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil over his alleged role in illegal anti-Israel protests.

However, those efforts hit a snag this week when a federal judge rejected one of the administration's requests. 

Khalil's case will be sent to New Jersey

According to the Washington Examiner, Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman refused on Wednesday to either dismiss Khalil's case or move it to Louisiana where he is currently being held.

The Examiner noted that Khalil's attorney wished to have his case litigated in New York whereas the Department of Justice (DOJ) would like to see it transferred.

Furman, who previously imposed a pause on Khalil's removal concluded that he lacks jurisdiction over the matter since his attorneys were in New Jersey when his lawyers first filed a challenge.

The Examiner pointed out that while Furman's decision to send Khalil's case to New Jersey is something of a victory for the DOJ, it would have preferred having any appeals heard by the Republican-dominated 5th Circuit in which Louisiana is located.

Khalil blames deportation efforts on racism

Fox News reported that for his part, Khalil released a statement on Tuesday in which he blamed his arrest and confinement on "anti-Palestinian racism."

"My unjust detention is indicative of the anti-Palestinian racism that both the Biden and Trump administrations have demonstrated over the past 16 months as the U.S. has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention," Khalil wrote.

"For decades, anti-Palestinian racism has driven efforts to expand U.S. laws and practices that are used to violently repress Palestinians, Arab Americans, and other communities. That is precisely why I am being targeted."

"While I await legal decisions that hold the futures of my wife and child in the balance, those who enabled my targeting remain comfortably at Columbia University,"

"Presidents Shafik, Armstrong, and Dean Yarhi-Milo laid the groundwork for the U.S. government to target me by arbitrarily disciplining pro-Palestinian students and allowing viral doxing campaigns – based on racism and disinformation – to go unchecked."

Jewish student says Khalil was an "insidious" presence at Columbia

Meanwhile, a Jewish female graduate student at Columbia University told the New York Post that she dropped a class after being made to feel "uncomfortable" by Khalil.

"It would almost be easier if he were some terrifying looking man who threatened to punch people in the face, but he wasn’t," said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"He was very soft-spoken and careful with his words, which almost made him seem more insidious, because it was so intentional – he was never being hyperbolic, he was very clear. He was never joking," she recalled.