A judge says the Trump administration can detain Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil for allegedly lying on his green card application — after ruling he can't be jailed for foreign policy reasons.

JENA, La. — The Trump administration said Friday that it will continue to detain Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil, after a federal judge ruled that he could not be held based on the U.S. secretary of state’s determination that he could harm American foreign policy.

Lawyers for a former Columbia University graduate student who participated in pro-Palestinian protests asked a US judge to release him after the government failed to file an appeal by a Friday deadline.