A Turkish immigrant detained for three weeks as part of the investigation of the September 11 terrorist attacks is free on $5,000 bond after the INS reversed itself in a controversial earlier action that overruled the order of an immigration judge.

The detention of the immigrant, Atila Kula, as first reported by U.S. News, was an example of Attorney General John Ashcroft's terrorism-hardened approach to justice. A judge had ordered Kula freed last week, but under the Justice Department's new counterterrorism measures, the INS stayed the order, forcing Atila to remain in jail, even past his scheduled wedding date.

Kula's lawyers, who filed a legal action last week claiming the detention was unconstitutional, argued that their client was in the country legally. In a new complaint filed this week, the INS argued that Kula had violated his student visa because he had not received the proper authorization to work in this country. Atila's lawyer, however, predicts the complaint will be moot once his client is married. The wedding is scheduled for this weekend. "And in three to five years," says attorney Kerry Bretz, "he will be a U.S. citizen and able to vote."