JENA, La. (AP) — Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be kicked out of the U.S. as a national security risk, an immigration judge in Louisiana found Friday during a hearing over the legality of deporting the activist who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The government’s contention that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” was enough to satisfy requirements for his deportation, Immigration Judge Jamee E. Comans said at the conclusion of a hearing in Jena.

Comans said the government had “established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable.”

Lawyers for Khalil said they plan to keep fighting. The judge gave them until April 23 to seek a waiver.

After the immigration court hearing, Khalil attorney Marc Van Der Hout told a federal judge in New Jersey that Khalil will appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals after the immigration judge issues the final written ruling. He said lawyers can also pursue an asylum case on Khalil’s behalf.

“So nothing is going to happen quickly in the immigration proceeding even though she’s found him removable on the foreign policy grounds,” he said.

Addressing the judge at the end of the immigration hearing, Khalil mentioned that she said at a hearing earlier in the week that “there’s nothing more important to this court than due process rights and fundamental fairness.”

“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” he added.

Van Der Hout, also criticized the hearing’s fairness.