DALLAS, April 9 (AP) Attorneys for a Pakistani imam seeking asylum in the U.S. said Tuesday they want immigration proceedings against him stopped.

Safdar Razi Amir Ali appeared on Tuesday before an immigration judge, who didnt rule in the case and set another hearing for April 15.

The imam, who came to the US on a religious work visa, was arrested on immigration violations at his Plano home on April 2. He is being held at an immigration detention facility in Haskell in West Texas.

For him, it is not safe to go back to Pakistan," Ali Abbas, a board member with the Institute of Islamic Learning in Metroplex in Plano, said after the hearing.

Abbas said that as a Shiite Muslim, Ali would be in danger from violence from Sunni extremists in Pakistan if he returns.

The judge on Tuesday said any question of bond must be decided by officials with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.