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 etained 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.

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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.