Judge: Pakistani national can be deported

BOSTON, June 2 (UPI) -- A taxi driver arrested in Massachusetts in the investigation of the failed bombing in Times Square can be deported to Pakistan, a judge ruled.

Pir Khan, 43, a Pakistani national, entered the United States through Mexico illegally in 1991, which makes him subject to deportation, immigration Judge Matthew D'Angelo ruled Monday in Boston.

Khan will challenge the ruling on the grounds his American wife, Rebecca May Barry, 24, of Lewiston, Maine, would face "extreme personal hardship" if he returned to Pakistan, said Saher Macarius, Khan's lawyer.

Khan and Barry were married in December 2008 in Watertown, Mass., where Khan lived until he was arrested and jailed May 13 along with his cousin, Aftab Ali Khan, 27, who arrived in Massachusetts in August and worked at a gas station. Last week, a judge said Aftab Kahn could be deported.

Macarius said Aftab and Pir Khan told him they had no connection to Faisal Shahzad, the Bridgeport, Conn., man accused of the failed May 1 bombing in Times Square.

Government investigators alleged Aftab and Pir Khan might have handled informal money transfers for Shahzad but it was not clear they knew how the money would be used. Neither of the Khans has been criminally charged.