The efforts to deport green card holders have sparked widespread backlash from civil liberties and immigrant rights groups. The US is also fighting to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and recent Columbia graduate who has not been accused of a crime. Khalil was arrested at his Columbia-owned building in New York, in front of his pregnant wife, and later transferred to detention in Louisiana.

In ordering the US not to transfer Chung out of the district, Buchwald said: “No trips to Louisiana here.”

Um … you don’t really want a federal judge going here (not Louisiana). That’s generally a sign you’ve lost the plot and have shit lawyers.