Alexandria: A federal judge has ordered immigration officials not to deport a Georgetown scholar that the government detained until the court has had a chance to rule.
US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered that Badar Khan Suri “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court issues a contrary order.” Suri, a postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown University and citizen of India, was arrested on Monday night outside of his Virginia home by officers who identified themselves as Department of Homeland Security agents and told him his visa had been revoked, according to a legal filing by Suri’s lawyer.
Hassan Ahmad, Suri’s Virginia-based attorney, wrote in a court filing that Suri was targeted because of his wife’s “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech.” Suri and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, “have long been doxxed and smeared,” the court filing stated. Critics have published Saleh’s photograph online along with information that includes her former employment with Al Jazeera and her birthplace in Gaza City “as support for her alleged ties with Hamas.” Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown, told The Associated Press that Suri was intensely focused on his research and teaching. He felt strong solidarity and sympathy for Palestinians, but was not outwardly political on campus.
“We’ve organised dozens of events since October 7, when the Israel-Gaza war began, and I don’t recall seeing him in any of those events,” said Hashemi, who directs the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, where Suri is a post-doctoral fellow. “That’s not who he was.” Before his arrest, Suri and his wife had been targets of right-wing campus groups, in part because Saleh’s father is Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Hamas, Hashemi said.
Yousef confirmed to The New York Times that Suri is his son-in-law, adding that Suri wasn’t involved in any “political activism,” including on behalf of Hamas.
Yousef, who has publicly criticized the October 7 attack on Israel, told the newspaper that he left his position in the Hamas-run government in Gaza more than a decade ago and does not hold a senior position with the militant group.
Georgetown’s Alwaleed Center said in a statement that Suri’s arrest was part of a “campaign by the Trump Administration to destroy higher education in the United States and punish their political opponents.” Suri was later taken to a detention facility in Louisiana, according to a government website. His lawyers are seeking his immediate release and to halt deportation proceedings through their habeas motion filed Tuesday against the Trump administration.
“The Trump Administration has openly expressed its intention to weaponize immigration law to punish noncitizens whose views are deemed critical of US policy as it relates to Israel,” Suri’s attorney wrote.
Suri’s detention more than 1,600 km away from his family and attorney is “plainly intended as retaliation and punishment for Mr. Suri’s protected speech,” his attorney added.
Separately, Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal US resident with no criminal record, was detained earlier this month over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and is fighting deportation efforts in federal court. And Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was deported over the weekend despite having a US visa.
Suri was accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media” and determined to be deportable by the Secretary of State’s office, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said late Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter. Suri’s case was first reported by Politico.
The filing by Suri’s lawyer said that federal authorities have provided no evidence that he’s committed any crimes and that his detention violates his free speech and due process rights. Suri, who has no criminal record, holds a visa authorizing him to be in the US as a visiting scholar, and his wife is a US citizen, according to the motion.
His lawyer didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking further comment Thursday.
Democratic US Rep. Don Beyer, whose district includes the county where Suri was detained, said in a Thursday statement that the scholar’s detention was illegal, urging the court to consider Suri’s case.
“The justification’ given for these violations of Mr. Suri’s right to due process is another violation of the Constitution: a blatant attack on the First Amendment,” Beyer said in a statement. “Mr. Suri and his family are unfortunately the latest victim of President Trump’s assault on the freedom of speech.” Suri’s lawyers say he’s teaching a course at Georgetown and hopes to become a university professor. A Georgetown webpage identifies Suri as a postdoctoral fellow at Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the university. The university said his areas of interest include religion, violence and peace processes in the Middle East and South Asia. The bio said that he earned a doctorate in India while studying efforts to introduce democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq, and he has travelled extensively in conflict zones in several countries.
The university said in a statement Thursday that Suri is an Indian national who was “duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan.” “We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” the school said. “We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.” The US Customs and Immigration Enforcement detainee locator website lists Suri as being in the custody of immigration officials at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana.
