Angela Zaynub Chowdhury, third from right, speaks Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, at a news conference about a temporary stay of removal issued for her husband, Bangladeshi-born Lawrence scientist Syed Jamal, who was recently arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and faced deportation. Chowdhury was joined Thursday at the Kansas City, Mo., offices of Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law by the family's attorney, Rekha Sharma-Crawford, third from left, her brother-in-law Syed Hussein Jamal, second from left, and her three children, Naheen, left, Fareed and Taseen, right.

Whether a Lawrence scientist who has been in the U.S. for 30 years will be deported is now in the hands of a judge.

Syed Ahmed Jamal, the Bangladeshi-born father of three who was recently detained by ICE, has been granted a temporary stay of removal. Jamal’s attorney, Rekha Sharma-Crawford, said at press conference Thursday that the stay essentially holds the process in place while a judge reviews both sides of the case.

Sharma-Crawford said the proper legal process was not followed in Jamal’s case and that she had asked an immigration judge to rescind the deportation order. She did not make any predictions about the outcome, but had confidence that the motions were strong.

“I believe there is merit to them, and I believe that the rule of law requires that that order should be rescinded,” Sharma-Crawford said.

Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law, the Kansas City, Mo.-based law firm representing Jamal, announced news of the stay Thursday morning and held a press conference with Jamal’s family Thursday afternoon at the law office.

Syed Jamal, seen here with his daughter, two sons and his nephew during a family vacation in Tennessee, is facing deportation after more than 30 years in the United States. Jamal, a Lawrence research scientist and academic, has three American-born children, all of whom attend Lawrence schools: Taseen, 13, Naheen, 12, and Fareed, 6.

Federal Judge Glen Baker, of the Kansas City Immigration Court, issued the stay Wednesday, Sharma-Crawford said. She said that Baker will now review Jamal’s case, and a decision is expected within 10 days.

Members of Jamal’s family said they have not been able to speak to Jamal since his arrest on Jan. 24. Jamal’s son, Taseen, said that while he was very happy to hear about the stay, what he and his siblings want is for their father to come home.

“Everything is certainly in a better position than it was earlier because we got the stay of removal process,” Taseen said. “I do really hope we’ll be able to see him again, but at the moment nothing is really that certain.”

Jamal was previously in custody in Missouri, but Sharma-Crawford said he was moved to El Paso, Texas, this week and that the government is “staging him for removal.” Jamal’s situation goes back a deportation order that was made in 2011 after he overstayed a visa. Sharma-Crawford said Jamal has a work permit that is valid until October 2018 and that he was trying to work within what she described as a complicated and unfriendly immigration system.

“He’s never missed a check-in, he’s never gotten in trouble with the law, he hasn’t done any of these things,” Sharma-Crawford said. “And so for them to unilaterally ambush him on a particular morning, there’s some fundamental problems with that.”

Sharma-Crawford said she does not know what prompted Jamal’s arrest, but that she presumes that it’s because a travel document was obtained. A travel document is issued by the home country of a person being deported and is required if a person lacks a valid passport. It states that the person is a citizen of that country and can be sent back there.

Sharma-Crawford said in addition to the motions related to the stay, she has also filed a federal habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Jamal’s wife, Angela Zaynub Chowdhury, their three children and his brother, Syed Hussein Jamal, attended Thursday’s press conference. Chowdhury said if her husband is sent back to Bangladesh, he will have no one to go to, and she pleaded for help to get him back.

“Please help us get him back and be free,” Chowdhury said. “He lived in Kansas more than 31 years, more than he lived in Bangladesh. He really loved the community; he wanted to contribute.”

In his time in the U.S., Jamal has earned multiple degrees from area universities, worked as a research scientist and an educator and been active in the schools of his three children, who are U.S. citizens. The public has rallied around Jamal and his family since news of his arrest broke. Letter-writing campaigns at Plymouth Congregational Church and the Islamic Center of Lawrence on Saturday attracted hundreds of participants. As of Thursday afternoon, a Change.org petition created in support of Jamal had reached nearly 60,000 signatures.

Following the press conference, Sharma-Crawford told the Journal-World she cannot predict what the judge we will rule. She said if the judge rules to deport Jamal, she is concerned he could be deported immediately, before an appeal is possible.