Immigration activist staves off deportation for now

Leading Indian-descent immigrant rights activist Ravi Ragbir whose long battle with immigration officials has drawn support from Democratic politicians in New York won't be deported while a federal judge hears a lawsuit.
Ragbir was detained for deportation to his native Trinidad and Tobago on January 11.
In court papers dated yesterday, lawyers argued the federal government is wrongly targeting immigrant rights activists and it's a violation of the first amendment.
The parties agreed to allow Ragbir to stay while the case was heard. Separately today, he was asking a judge in Newark to allow him to stay in the country pending an appeal on a 2001 criminal conviction for wire fraud.