WASHINGTON

A federal judge in the state of Virginia ordered Georgetown University postdoctoral academic Badar Khan Suri released from an immigration detention Wednesday as the Trump administration continues to seek his deportation due to his previously expressed pro-Palestinian sentiments.

Suri has been held for more than two months in an immigration prison in the state of Texas after he was swept off the street outside his home in northern Virginia in March where he resides with his wife.

Judge Patricia Giles, a US district court judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, ruled that Suri be released without bond, according to multiple reports.

WUSA9, a local CBS television network affiliate, reported that Giles said the Trump administration presented no evidence to contest Suri's contention that he was being unconstitutionally punished for his views on Israel's war against the besieged Gaza Strip.

"At this time, respondents have offered no other authorization for petitioner's detention and have offered nothing to refute that his detention is punitive," Giles reportedly said.

Her ruling marks at least the third major defeat for the Trump administration as it seeks to deport international students and academics who have voiced pro-Palestinian sentiments. Two judges separately ordered the release of Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk, who is pursuing a PhD at Tufts University, and Columbia University graduate student Mohsen Mahdawi.