US judge blocks deportation of Indian researcher accused of Hamas ties
Virginia District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered that Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, who is of Indian origin, could not be deported for allegedly "spreading Hamas propaganda" until a new court ruling is issued.
Issued on: 21/03/2025 -
FRANCE 24
McLaughlin accused him of having "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas".
The State Department decided the researcher was subject to deportation under a provision of immigration law that allows for expulsion if the visa holder's presence in the United States is determined to threaten US foreign policy, she added.
Hamas is a US-designated terror organisation.
Georgetown University said it backs its "community members' rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable".
Citing a petition filed by Suri's lawyer, Politico reported that Suri's wife is a US citizen of Palestinian descent, and that the couple believes they are being targeted because the government suspects they oppose US policy on Israel.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Virginia District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered that Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, who is of Indian origin, could not be deported for allegedly "spreading Hamas propaganda" until a new court ruling is issued.
Issued on: 21/03/2025 -
FRANCE 24
Protesters gather at Foley Square on March 10, 2025 in New York City. © David Dee Delgado, Getty Images/AFP
A US judge ordered Thursday that an Indian researcher at a top American university not be removed from the country, following his arrest and threat of expulsion for alleged Hamas ties.
The detention of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the US capital, came as fears mount in the academic world that freedom of research and speech is being challenged two months into US President Donald Trump's new term.
Suri's lawyer demanded his release and denounced the arrest as a "targeted, retaliatory detention" that was intended "to silence, or at the very least restrict and chill, his speech" as well as that of others who "express support for Palestinian rights".
Early Thursday evening Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia Court ordered that Suri "shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court issues a contrary order".
Read moreTrump mutes Voice of America, makes space for Russian and Chinese influence
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has also filed an emergency motion to stop the deportation, said Suri was being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana.
"Ripping someone from their home and family, stripping them of their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence dissent," said ACLU immigrant rights attorney Sophia Gregg.
"That is patently unconstitutional."
On Wednesday, the French government condemned the expulsion of a French space scientist meant to attend a conference in Houston, after officials searched his smartphone and found what they called "hateful" messages against US policy.
Read more'Deplorable': French scientist denied US entry over text messages criticising Trump
"Dr Khan 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," Georgetown University said in a statement.
"We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention."
Neither Secretary of State Marco Rubio "nor any other government official has alleged that Mr Suri has committed any crime or, indeed, broke any law whatsoever", his lawyer said in the court filing.
The filing accused the US government of having detained Suri "based on his family connection and constitutionally protected free speech".
Fellow arrested
Suri – a fellow at Georgetown's Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, according to the university website – was arrested Monday at his home in Arlington, Virginia, according to Politico, which first reported on the story.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said on X that Suri was "a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media".
A US judge ordered Thursday that an Indian researcher at a top American university not be removed from the country, following his arrest and threat of expulsion for alleged Hamas ties.
The detention of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the US capital, came as fears mount in the academic world that freedom of research and speech is being challenged two months into US President Donald Trump's new term.
Suri's lawyer demanded his release and denounced the arrest as a "targeted, retaliatory detention" that was intended "to silence, or at the very least restrict and chill, his speech" as well as that of others who "express support for Palestinian rights".
Early Thursday evening Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia Court ordered that Suri "shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court issues a contrary order".
Read moreTrump mutes Voice of America, makes space for Russian and Chinese influence
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has also filed an emergency motion to stop the deportation, said Suri was being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana.
"Ripping someone from their home and family, stripping them of their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence dissent," said ACLU immigrant rights attorney Sophia Gregg.
"That is patently unconstitutional."
On Wednesday, the French government condemned the expulsion of a French space scientist meant to attend a conference in Houston, after officials searched his smartphone and found what they called "hateful" messages against US policy.
Read more'Deplorable': French scientist denied US entry over text messages criticising Trump
"Dr Khan 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," Georgetown University said in a statement.
"We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention."
Neither Secretary of State Marco Rubio "nor any other government official has alleged that Mr Suri has committed any crime or, indeed, broke any law whatsoever", his lawyer said in the court filing.
The filing accused the US government of having detained Suri "based on his family connection and constitutionally protected free speech".
Fellow arrested
Suri – a fellow at Georgetown's Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, according to the university website – was arrested Monday at his home in Arlington, Virginia, according to Politico, which first reported on the story.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said on X that Suri was "a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media".
07:46
PRESS REVIEW © FRANCE 24
McLaughlin accused him of having "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas".
The State Department decided the researcher was subject to deportation under a provision of immigration law that allows for expulsion if the visa holder's presence in the United States is determined to threaten US foreign policy, she added.
Hamas is a US-designated terror organisation.
Georgetown University said it backs its "community members' rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable".
Citing a petition filed by Suri's lawyer, Politico reported that Suri's wife is a US citizen of Palestinian descent, and that the couple believes they are being targeted because the government suspects they oppose US policy on Israel.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Politico reported that Suri’s wife is a US citizen of Palestinian descent, and that the couple believes they are being targeted because the government suspects they oppose US policy on Israel.
By AFP
March 20, 2025
A researcher at Georgetown University in Washington has been arrested and threatened with expulsion - Copyright AFP/File Robyn BECK
An Indian researcher at a top university in the United States with a valid visa has been arrested and is under threat of expulsion, according to his employer and US authorities, who accuse him of ties to Hamas.
The arrest of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the US capital, comes as fears mount in the scientific world that freedom of research is being challenged two months into US President Donald Trump’s new term.
On Wednesday, the French government condemned the expulsion of a French space scientist meant to attend a conference in Houston, after officials searched his smartphone and found what they called “hateful” messages against US policy.
“Dr Khan 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,” Georgetown University said in a statement.
“We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention.”
Suri — a fellow at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, according to the university website — was arrested Monday at his home in Arlington, Virginia, according to Politico, which first reported on the story.
His lawyer told Politico he had demanded his release, but did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said on X that Suri was “a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media.”
McLaughlin accused him of having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”
The State Department decided the researcher was subject to deportation under a provision of immigration law that allows for expulsion if the visa holder’s presence in the United States is determined to threaten US foreign policy, she added.
Hamas is a US-designated terror organization.
Georgetown University said it backs its “community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable.”
Citing a petition filed by Suri’s lawyer, Politico reported that Suri’s wife is a US citizen of Palestinian descent, and that the couple believes they are being targeted because the government suspects they oppose US policy on Israel.
Trump can't deport Georgetown scholar rounded up in crackdown on 'terrorist sympathizers'
Daniel Hampton
March 20, 2025
Georgetown Academic 'Abducted by Masked DHS Agents' at Risk of Deportation
One of Badar Khan Suri's lawyers called the case "emblematic of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to suppress voices—citizens and noncitizens alike—who dare to speak out."
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent monitors hundreds of asylum seekers being processed upon entering the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on June 6, 2023 in New York City.
(Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Eloise Goldsmith
Mar 20, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
The Trump administration was accused of "abducting" a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, following reporting thatBadar Khan Suri, who was studying and teaching at the school on a student visa, was arrested by masked immigration authorities on Monday night.
Following his arrest, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had determined that Suri's "activities and presence" in the United States "had rendered him deportable."
Agents who identified themselves as being with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested Suri, an Indian national, outside his home in Virginia, per Politico, which was first to report on Suri's arrest. The immigration officials told Suri that his student visa had been revoked, the outlet reported, citing court papers.
The news comes days after immigration agents arrested green-card holder Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University until this past December who was involved in pro-Palestine demonstrations on the school's campus last year. U.S. President Donald Trump said that Khalil's arrest would be the "first of many."
"Another student who's legally in the U.S. was arrested for deportation, without a crime—allegedly for opposing U.S. foreign policy," said Nancy Okail, the head of the Center for International Policy. "If this absurdity continues, it won't be limited to specific groups. Any form of opposition will be punished and criminalized."
Nermeen Arastu, a member of Suri's legal team and an associate professor of law at the City University of New York similarly told the outlet Drop Site, "Mr. Suri's case is emblematic of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to suppress voices—citizens and noncitizens alike—who dare to speak out against governmental policies."
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, wrote on X on Wednesday evening that Suri was "rendered deportable" under section of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
That is the same provision of immigration law that the Trump administration has invoked in its effort to Mahmoud Khalil.
"Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media," McLaughlin also said. In the post, she did not add anything to bolster this claim. McLaughlin also wrote that Suri has connections to a "known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas."
Suri has not been charged with a crime, per his lawyer's petition for a writ of "habeas corpus," or an order demanding that he be brought to court to determine if he is lawfully detained,according Politico.
Suri's petition, filed on Tuesday in federal court by his lawyer Hassan Ahmed, argues that his arrest violates his First and Fifth Amendment rights, according to Drop Site, and also "challenges the legality of his detention under U.S. immigration law."
Politico reported that "Suri is being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife—who is a U.S. citizen—and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose U.S. foreign policy toward Israel," citing the petition.
Drop Site reported that Suri is currently being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana, though it is reportedly not the same facility as where Mahmoud Khalil is currently located.
Suri's wife, Mapheze Saleh, is a Georgetown graduate student in the Walsh School of Foreign Service's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.
Her father, Ahmed Yousef, is a former adviser to the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated last year by Israeli security forces, according to The New York Times. Yousef told the Times that he departed his position as part of the Hamas-led government in Gaza over 10 years ago, and that his son-in-law is not involved in any "political activism." Yousef has also criticized Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, per the Times.
Drop Site reported that Suri's arrest came after pro-Israel groups targeted Saleh with an "exceptionally public media campaign." The petition notes that Saleh and Suri have been targeted online due to their support for Palestinian rights, per Politico.
In February, the group CAMERA on Campus—which according to its X account helps students share "accurate education" and "correct misinformation" about Israel on campus—called Saleh a "Hamas affiliate" and alleged she "glorifie[d]" Hamas on social media. Also in February, the outlet Jewish News Syndicate published an opinion piece alleging that Suri "repeatedly endorsed Hamas terror and actively spreads its propaganda."
On Wednesday night, a Georgetown University spokesperson issued the following statement: "Dr. Khan 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."
"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 spokesperson wrote.
Daniel Hampton
March 20, 2025
RAW STORY
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wears an ICE vest during a briefing with law enforcement agents ahead of immigration raids in New York City, U.S., January 28, 2025 in this image obtained from social media. X/@Sec_Noem via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY/File Photo
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot deport a Georgetown University scholar who is living in the country legally but was seized by federal agents as the administration targets "terrorist sympathizers."
Masked agents arrested Badar Khan Suri outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, on Monday night. Khan Suri is an Indian national and postdoctoral fellow who was studying and teaching on a student visa. He was informed by agents with the Department of Homeland Security that his visa was being revoked.
Tricia McLaughlin said in a Wednesday post on X that Khan Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. Khan Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”
But on Thursday afternoon, U.S District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said the administration cannot deport him unless she rules otherwise while she reviews Khan Suri’s petition challenging his detention.
Khan Suri is married with children, according to the report.
Suri’s petition for release said he was placed in deportation proceedings under a rarely used immigration law enforcement mechanism that allows the head of the State Department to deport noncitizens if they're deemed a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
Suri’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, has said his client was targeted because his wife is of Palestinian heritage and is not a U.S. citizen. Authorities believe he and his wife oppose the United States' support of Israel, said Ahmad.
“We’re trying to speak with him. That hasn’t happened yet,” Ahmad told Politico on Wednesday. “This is just another example of our government abducting people the same way they abducted Khalil.”
Trump has explicitly said his administration is targeting people he refers to as "terrorist sympathizers." In multiple public statements, including on his social media platform, Trump vowed to "find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again."
His rhetoric has been tied to recent actions, including the arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent U.S. resident who played a major role in protests that rocked Columbia University last year.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wears an ICE vest during a briefing with law enforcement agents ahead of immigration raids in New York City, U.S., January 28, 2025 in this image obtained from social media. X/@Sec_Noem via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY/File Photo
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot deport a Georgetown University scholar who is living in the country legally but was seized by federal agents as the administration targets "terrorist sympathizers."
Masked agents arrested Badar Khan Suri outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, on Monday night. Khan Suri is an Indian national and postdoctoral fellow who was studying and teaching on a student visa. He was informed by agents with the Department of Homeland Security that his visa was being revoked.
Tricia McLaughlin said in a Wednesday post on X that Khan Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. Khan Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”
But on Thursday afternoon, U.S District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said the administration cannot deport him unless she rules otherwise while she reviews Khan Suri’s petition challenging his detention.
Khan Suri is married with children, according to the report.
Suri’s petition for release said he was placed in deportation proceedings under a rarely used immigration law enforcement mechanism that allows the head of the State Department to deport noncitizens if they're deemed a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
Suri’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, has said his client was targeted because his wife is of Palestinian heritage and is not a U.S. citizen. Authorities believe he and his wife oppose the United States' support of Israel, said Ahmad.
“We’re trying to speak with him. That hasn’t happened yet,” Ahmad told Politico on Wednesday. “This is just another example of our government abducting people the same way they abducted Khalil.”
Trump has explicitly said his administration is targeting people he refers to as "terrorist sympathizers." In multiple public statements, including on his social media platform, Trump vowed to "find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again."
His rhetoric has been tied to recent actions, including the arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent U.S. resident who played a major role in protests that rocked Columbia University last year.
Georgetown Academic 'Abducted by Masked DHS Agents' at Risk of Deportation
One of Badar Khan Suri's lawyers called the case "emblematic of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to suppress voices—citizens and noncitizens alike—who dare to speak out."
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent monitors hundreds of asylum seekers being processed upon entering the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on June 6, 2023 in New York City.
(Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Eloise Goldsmith
Mar 20, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
The Trump administration was accused of "abducting" a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, following reporting thatBadar Khan Suri, who was studying and teaching at the school on a student visa, was arrested by masked immigration authorities on Monday night.
Following his arrest, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had determined that Suri's "activities and presence" in the United States "had rendered him deportable."
Agents who identified themselves as being with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested Suri, an Indian national, outside his home in Virginia, per Politico, which was first to report on Suri's arrest. The immigration officials told Suri that his student visa had been revoked, the outlet reported, citing court papers.
The news comes days after immigration agents arrested green-card holder Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University until this past December who was involved in pro-Palestine demonstrations on the school's campus last year. U.S. President Donald Trump said that Khalil's arrest would be the "first of many."
"Another student who's legally in the U.S. was arrested for deportation, without a crime—allegedly for opposing U.S. foreign policy," said Nancy Okail, the head of the Center for International Policy. "If this absurdity continues, it won't be limited to specific groups. Any form of opposition will be punished and criminalized."
Nermeen Arastu, a member of Suri's legal team and an associate professor of law at the City University of New York similarly told the outlet Drop Site, "Mr. Suri's case is emblematic of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to suppress voices—citizens and noncitizens alike—who dare to speak out against governmental policies."
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, wrote on X on Wednesday evening that Suri was "rendered deportable" under section of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
That is the same provision of immigration law that the Trump administration has invoked in its effort to Mahmoud Khalil.
"Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media," McLaughlin also said. In the post, she did not add anything to bolster this claim. McLaughlin also wrote that Suri has connections to a "known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas."
Suri has not been charged with a crime, per his lawyer's petition for a writ of "habeas corpus," or an order demanding that he be brought to court to determine if he is lawfully detained,according Politico.
Suri's petition, filed on Tuesday in federal court by his lawyer Hassan Ahmed, argues that his arrest violates his First and Fifth Amendment rights, according to Drop Site, and also "challenges the legality of his detention under U.S. immigration law."
Politico reported that "Suri is being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife—who is a U.S. citizen—and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose U.S. foreign policy toward Israel," citing the petition.
Drop Site reported that Suri is currently being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana, though it is reportedly not the same facility as where Mahmoud Khalil is currently located.
Suri's wife, Mapheze Saleh, is a Georgetown graduate student in the Walsh School of Foreign Service's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.
Her father, Ahmed Yousef, is a former adviser to the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated last year by Israeli security forces, according to The New York Times. Yousef told the Times that he departed his position as part of the Hamas-led government in Gaza over 10 years ago, and that his son-in-law is not involved in any "political activism." Yousef has also criticized Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, per the Times.
Drop Site reported that Suri's arrest came after pro-Israel groups targeted Saleh with an "exceptionally public media campaign." The petition notes that Saleh and Suri have been targeted online due to their support for Palestinian rights, per Politico.
In February, the group CAMERA on Campus—which according to its X account helps students share "accurate education" and "correct misinformation" about Israel on campus—called Saleh a "Hamas affiliate" and alleged she "glorifie[d]" Hamas on social media. Also in February, the outlet Jewish News Syndicate published an opinion piece alleging that Suri "repeatedly endorsed Hamas terror and actively spreads its propaganda."
On Wednesday night, a Georgetown University spokesperson issued the following statement: "Dr. Khan 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."
"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 spokesperson wrote.
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