A Louisiana immigration judge on Tuesday said she will decide by the end of this week whether to continue to hold Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil in custody or release him.

An immigration judge in Louisiana said she would terminate the case against Mahmoud Khalil if the government does not provide evidence this week justifying their attempted deportation of the Columbia University student activist.

Khalil said his situation is "oddly reminiscent of when I fled the brutality of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria" in an op-ed in Columbia's student newspaper.