Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a 34-year-old working at Brown Medicine’s Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension was barred from entering the US, with her phone seized.
The New Arab Staff
16 March, 2025
A doctor and professor who travelled to Lebanon to visit her parents was prevented from re-entering the US [Getty]
A doctor and professor who travelled to Lebanon to visit her parents was prevented from re-entering the US once she landed at Boston’s Logan International Airport this week, her lawyer said in a statement.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a 34-year-old working at Brown Medicine’s Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension since July last year, had been working in the US for around six years, her colleague said after she was barred entry.
Alawieh had an H-1B visa from the US consulate in Lebanon, given to people in speciality occupations which require expertise. Her attorney confirmed that the visa was valid until mid-2027.
Alawieh was detained at the airport, various reports said, with her relatives afraid that she would be deported back to Lebanon.
"We are at a loss as to why this happened…I don’t know if it’s a byproduct of the Trump crackdown on immigration. I don’t know if it’s a travel ban or some other issue," Thomas S. Brown, the attorney representing Alawieh and Brown Medicine said.
Brown added that Alawieh’s phone was also seized, leaving him unable to contact her.
He further explained that her visa had a "wrinkle" but confirmed that it had been "relatively easy" to fix and that "whatever is going on is not the consequence of the actions at the American consulate."
He also said he would not know the reasons US customs and border protection gave for her detention until he spoke to Alawieh. Since she was held at the airport, which is not considered US soil, she was not allowed legal counsel.
One report, citing a mutual friend in Connecticut, said customs agents only gave Alawieh one phone call before taking her phone. She made the call to her brother, based in Switzerland, who spoke to a customs official.
In an interview, Dr. George Bayliss, the medical director of Brown’s organ transplant division, slammed the detention, calling it "outrageous".
"This is a person who is legally entitled to be in the U.S., who is stopped from re-entering the country for reasons no one knows. It’s depriving her patients of a good physician," he said.
Both Bayliss and Alawieh graduated from Lebanon's prestigious American University of Beirut (AUB) medical school and went to the US for a nephrology fellowship at Ohio State University.
Following this, Alawieh secured a position for a transplant fellowship at the University of Washington and had a residency at the Yale hospital system, before starting at Brown Medicine last July.
According to Bayliss, she planned to be in Lebanon for two weeks and texted a co-worker on Thursday saying she had arrived in Boston. However, shortly after, her parents were contacted by immigration officials.
Other medical professionals working alongside Alawieh condemned the decision to bar her from entering the US.
The surgical director of the organ transplant division at Brown University Health, Dr Paul Morrissey, said that Alawieh’s role was key, as she was responsible for getting people in Rhode Island on the list for kidney transplants, which he said was critical currently.
"It’s putting a strain on our office. Her work has been exceptional", he added.
The latest developments come as the Trump administration is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions for the citizens of dozens of countries as part of a new ban, according to sources familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Reuters.
The memo lists a total of 41 countries divided into three separate groups. The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Cuba and North Korea among others, would be set for a full visa suspension.
In the second group, five countries - Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan - would face partial suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.
Doctor at Brown University deported to Lebanon despite US judge’s order
https://arab.news/z4psw
- Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen, has an H-1B visa authorizing her to work at Brown University, yet she was detained on Thursday after returning from travel to Lebanon
- Her expulsion is set to be the focus of a hearing on Monday before a federal judge in Boston, who demanded information on whether his order had been “willfully” disobeyed
BOSTON: A Rhode Island doctor who is an assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school has been deported to Lebanon even though a judge had issued an order blocking the US visa holder’s immediate removal from the country, according to court papers.
The expulsion of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, is set to be the focus of a hearing on Monday before a federal judge in Boston, who on Sunday demanded information on whether US Customs and Border Protection had “willfully” disobeyed his order.
US District Judge Leo Sorokin, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said he had received a “detailed and specific” timeline of the events from an attorney working on Alawieh’s behalf that raised “serious allegations” about whether his order was violated.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Rasha Alawieh was removed after arriving at Boston airport
• Judge questions if Customs and Border Protection disobeyed his order
• Court hearing set for Monday
The agency has not said why she was removed. But her expulsion came as Republican US President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to sharply restrict border crossing and ramp up immigration arrests.
A CBP spokesperson, Hilton Beckham, in a statement said migrants bear the burden of establishing admissibility and that the agency’s officers “adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats.”
Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen who lives in Providence, was detained on Thursday after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston after traveling to Lebanon to see relatives, according to a lawsuit filed by her cousin, Yara Chehab.
She had held a visa to be in the United States since 2018, when she first came to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University before then completing a fellowship at the University of Washington and then moving to the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she completed in June.
While in Lebanon, the US consulate issued Alawieh an H-1B visa authorizing her entry into the United States to work at Brown University, the lawsuit said. Such visas are reserved for people from other countries who are employed in specialty occupations.
Despite that visa, CBP detained her at the airport for reasons her family members have still not been provided, according to the lawsuit, which argued her rights were being violated.
In response to the lawsuit, Sorokin on Friday evening issued orders barring Alawieh’s removal from Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice to the court and requiring her to be brought to a court hearing on Monday.
Yet according to the cousin’s attorneys, after that order was issued, Alawieh was flown to Paris, where she was then set to board a flight for Lebanon that had been scheduled for Sunday.
Sorokin on Sunday directed the government to provide a legal and factual response by Monday morning ahead of the previously scheduled hearing and to preserve all emails, text messages and other documents concerning Alawieh’s arrival and removal.
Concerns have also been raised in other cases about whether the Trump administration is complying with court rulings blocking parts of its agenda.
The Trump administration on Sunday said it has deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador under seldom-used wartime powers, despite a federal judge’s order temporarily barring such deportations.
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