Immigration activist Ravi Ragbir won't have to spend the foreseeable future in a detention center in Florida, as he challenges the government's decision to detain and deport him. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agreed to move him to a detention center in the New York metropolitan area.

Ragbir heads the New Sanctuary Coalition, a network of faith-based and community groups that work with immigrants and accompanies them to court appearances. He was detained last week during a check-in with immigration agents and sent to Florida the same day. The government plans to deport him to his native Trinidad because of a conviction for wire fraud almost 20 years ago. 

But his lawyers are challenging his detention. ICE granted him several stays of deportation after he served time in prison and in an immigration detention center. His latest stay wasn't due to expire until Jan. 19. Late last week, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan ordered Ragbir to be kept in the New York area until his full court hearing challenging the detention at the end of January.

The government originally fought that order during a court hearing on Tuesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Waterman said of ICE, "I don't know for certain the reason why they did what they did" in detaining Ragbir before his stay expired. But he stated that ICE can revoke a stay at any time.

Judge Forrest asked the government to consider bringing Ragbir back to New York because an appeal was likely no matter how she ruled. On Wednesday, Ragbir's attorneys announced that ICE agreed to move him to a local detention center.

"The last five days have been a nightmare for me," said Ragbir's wife, Amy Gottlieb, in a statement about her husband. "When we learned he was taken to an immigration prison over a thousand miles away, I was both heartbroken and outraged. They never should have taken him away from his community in the first place, and I will not rest until he is free."

Ragbir's attorney, Alina Das of the NYU Immigrant Rights Clinic, told Judge Forrest on Tuesday, "It looks like they detained him at the check-in partially as a result of the outspoken work he has done." Another leader of the New Sanctuary Coalition, Jean Montrevil, was deported this week to his native Haiti.

Thomas Decker, director of the New York Field Office of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations, noted that Ragbir is a convicted felon who was found to be deportable.  As of Wednesday night, he said, "He is still in ICE custody in Miami and will be transported back to New York pending resolution of his court proceedings." ICE would not release any details or say which of the three New York area detention centers Ragbir would go to, citing privacy concerns.

Ragbir is also seeking to vacate his original conviction for wire fraud. A federal judge in New Jersey last week ordered the government to keep him in the U.S. until a hearing can be held on January 25. Decker, at ICE, said the agency learned of this ruling while it was transporting him from New York to Miami for his deportation to Trinidad and Tobago.

This story has been updated to include a comment from ICE.