By DAN MARGOLIES

Syed Jamal, the Bangladeshi-born scientist whom the federal government is trying to deport, must be released from jail, a judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark said that though the government was entitled to detain Jamal for a reasonable period of time, his lack of a criminal history and his strong ties to Lawrence favored his release.

Jamal, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years and taught chemistry at the college level, had overstayed his visa and was detained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in front of his home on Jan. 24 as he was preparing to take his daughter to school.

Jamal is still waiting to hear whether he’ll be deported, as ICE officials had sought to do on Feb. 13, when he was flown as far as Hawaii. The Board of Immigration Appeals in Virginia halted his deportation after his lawyers appealed, and it isn’t expected to rule on his case before May.

If the board upholds the deportation order, Jamal still may be able to stay in the country. A private bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, would grant him lawful permanent residence in the U.S.

Alan Claus Anderson, Jamal’s neighbor in Lawrence and an attorney with the Polsinelli firm who recently was retained by Jamal’s family, said the legislation has been submitted to the House Judiciary Committee. He said there’s an extensive information gathering process, “but then we hope it can move fairly quickly, swiftly.”

“There’s a matter of making sure they have what they need or questions are answered in that process,” Anderson said.

The courthouse in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, was packed with family, friends and supporters of Jamal, who applauded after the 90-minute hearing ended.

Jamal previously was allowed to stay in the United States under orders of supervision, which enabled him to get temporary work permits. He was previously detained in 2012 for 57 days.

For now, Ketchmark said, Jamal will need to check in periodically with immigration authorities as he had under his previous order of supervision.

After the hearing, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver released a statement saying that he was pleased Jamal, “will be able to spend some much needed time with his wife and children but this is far from over.”

“The current immigration system is broken and affects families who have responsibilities and deep ties to their communities,” the Kansas City Democrat said. “We must fix these laws that criminalize hard-working, contributing members of society like Mr. Syed Jamal and that’s what I plan to push for in Congress.”

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor for KCUR, a partner in the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

————

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday freed a Kansas father fighting efforts by the U.S. to deport him to Bangladesh pending the outcome of his case.

U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark ordered the release of Syed Ahmed Jamal, 55, after a hearing in Kansas City, Missouri. He was being held in the jail in Platte County, Missouri, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Kansas City, and did not attend the hearing.

The ruling does not keep Jamal from being deported, and The Kansas City Star reported that his attorney, Rehka Sharma-Crawford, acknowledged that he faces difficulties in staying in the U.S. But she said she was thankful for the judge’s ruling.

Jamal and his supporters have been battling his deportation since Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him in January at his family’s home in Lawrence, about 40 miles west (64 kilometers) of Kansas City. His three children are U.S. citizens.

“I made a promise to those kids to bring their dad home,” Sharma-Crawford said.

Jamal entered the U.S. legally in 1987 to attend the University of Kansas but twice overstayed his visa. He was ordered deported in 2011 but had been allowed to stay in the U.S. and check in regularly with immigration authorities. He has worked as an adjunct professor and researcher at Kansas City-area colleges.

U.S. immigration officials put Jamal on a plane bound for his native country last month before an immigration panel granted a temporary stay in the case. Jamal was taken off the flight when it stopped to refuel in Honolulu.

At the Platte County jail, Jamal has been cut off from his family except for Sunday visits behind glass. His possible deportation had prompted a backlash, with a protest march in Lawrence and more than 90,000 people signing a petition supporting him.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri whose office was flooded with calls about the case, took up Jamal’s cause. And Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Republican whose eastern Kansas district includes Lawrence, backed Jamal’s efforts to have his immigration case reopened, and filed legislation to allow Jamal and his wife to stay in the U.S.

“With limited resources and violent, criminal illegal immigrants still in our country, the fact that our government would prioritize resources to attempt to deport Syed is offensive to our common sense and a fiscally reckless use of taxpayer dollars,” Jenkins said in a statement issued after Tuesday’s hearing.

Shortly after taking office last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that widened the categories of immigrants in the U.S. illegally who could face deportation. ICE has detained or deported people who had received reprieves from the agency during the Obama administration, which prioritized deporting violent, criminal immigrants.

The government argued unsuccessfully Tuesday that the federal court had no jurisdiction over Jamal’s detention.

More than 100 supporters packed Ketchmark’s courtroom, overflowing into a nearby one where a video feed of the proceedings was shown. Her courtroom erupted in applause shortly after she left the bench.

“I have so many people to thank, the whole community,” Jamal’s wife, Angela Zaynaub Chowdhury, said after the hearing.

RENO COUNTY — A Kansas man arrested in a domestic case early Saturday made a first appearance Monday.

Zaide Mendoza-Wells, 20, Hutchinson faces potential charges of aggravated battery, aggravated child endangerment, two counts of criminal damage, felony interference with a law enforcement officer, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Just before 6 a.m. Saturday, police were called to a residence Lyman Street in Hutchinson on the report of a disturbance. A resident apparently heard loud bangs and a woman screaming.

Officers made contact with the victim who told them the suspect attacked her with a kitchen knife and punched her multiple times during the incident, according to court testimony. She had lacerations that needed medical treatment. 

Police found blood near the couch, in a bathroom, and around other parts of the home. They arrested Mendoza-Wells at the scene. During the court appearance, he managed to get the $14,000 bond lowered to $12,500.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The explosive issues of race, immigration and guns emerged during jury selection at the trial of three militia members accused of conspiring to bomb a mosque and apartment complex housing Somalis in southwest Kansas.

Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen are charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights. Stein also faces a weapons-related charge and Wright has an additional charge of lying to the FBI.

The three men, who were indicted in October 2016, have pleaded not guilty.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mattivi probed prospective jurors about their views on whether the federal government should protect civil rights and whether anyone believes the U.S. should limit the number of refugees into the country.

Defense attorney Jim Pratt, who represents Stein, warned jurors about the profanity they will hear in the case: “The language is horrible. You are going to hear unquestionably offensive and racist language in this case. Is there anyone here who is not offended by defining another human being as a cockroach? How about defining a group of people as an infestation?”

One prospective juror replied, “It’s just a word. What’s the big deal?”

Pratt pressed further, telling the group they would hear racist language which refers to then President Barack Obama as a “n—– in the White House” and he asked whether anyone finds that offensive.

The sole black woman who was left in the first group of prospective jurors responded that was offensive to her, and agreed she probably couldn’t judge the men fairly. She was dismissed from the pool.

Defense attorney Kari Schmidt, who represents Wright, questioned the jury pool about their familiarity with survivalist shows such as Doomsday Preppers and whether they could be impartial about a person who has a lot of guns.

The government said in court filings that a militia member tipped off federal authorities after becoming alarmed by the heightening talk of violence, and later agreed to wear a wire as a paid informant. The government’s case features months of investigation captured on profanity-laced recordings that referred to the Somalis as “cockroaches.”

Earlier in the case, a judge denied a defense motion to expand the prospective jury pool to encompass more rural western Kansas counties where the defense believed residents would be more conservative.

Defense attorneys argued the case is “uniquely political” because much of the anticipated evidence is in reaction to the 2016 presidential election. They contended the case will require jurors to weigh evidence regarding whether the alleged conduct constitutes the crimes charged, or whether it is constitutionally protected speech and assembly and implicates the right to bear arms.

The federal trial in Wichita is expected to last six weeks, with opening statements expected Thursday before U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren.