Emergency request to halt Abdoul Abdi deportation to be heard in Federal Court in Halifax

An emergency request to halt the deportation of Abdoul Abdi will be heard Thursday at Federal Court in Halifax.

Abdi arrived in Canada as a refugee when he was six-years-old from war-torn Somalia. As a child, Abdi and his sister were taken from his aunt. He was moved 31 times between the ages of 8 and 19, never completed high school and was separated from his sister.

READ: Abdoul Abdi to be released from detention, Canada to continue pursuing deportation

Despite being placed in foster care as a child by the Nova Scotia government, Abdi has never obtained Canadian citizenship.

The 24-year-old was released in December after serving five years in prison for multiple offences, including aggravated assault, and is now facing deportation to Somalia.

Ben Perryman, Abdi’s lawyer, says there were three ways that Abdi could have become a Canadian citizen: if he was left with his aunt as a child, placed up for adoption or if child welfare services applied for citizenship on his behalf.

READ MORE: N.S. premier seeks review as Abdoul Abdi faces deportation

Perryman says Abdi is currently working in Ontario on a research project looking at the connection between the child welfare system and the criminal justice system.

On Thursday, Perryman says he will ask the Federal Court later this week to keep the status quo and ask for a temporary stop to the deportation order until the case can be fully heard.

He says if the status quo isn’t kept, Abdi will lose his right to work and his right to health care and will “be harmed in a way that can’t be undone.”

WATCH: PM responds to Abdoul Abdi’s possible deportation to Somalia

4:48 PM responds to Abdoul Abdi’s possible deportation to Somalia

Nove Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil has said that the Department of Community Services will review how they handle complex cases like Abdi’s.

-With files from Alexander Quon.