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.

"This vindicates what Mahmoud has maintained since day one — that the government cannot detain or deport him based on Rubio’s say-so," Ramzi Kassem, a lawyer for Khalil and a law professor at the City University of New York, said in a statement.

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil on Friday asked a federal judge to order the release of the Columbia University protester from an immigration lockup, saying the Trump administration missed an appeal deadline.