Georgetown professor Badar Khan Suri has been detained. Here is what we all know : NPR

A federal decide has blocked immigration officers from deporting a Georgetown College professor and postdoctoral scholar who was detained by the Trump administration earlier this week.

In a ruling Thursday, U.S. District Decide Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Va., stated Badar Khan Suri, an Indian nationwide, cannot be faraway from the U.S. “till the Courtroom points a opposite order.” Giles’ order stopped wanting releasing Suri again to his Rosslyn, Va., dwelling the place his spouse and three younger kids are nonetheless dwelling. His legal professionals are nonetheless working to get him launched.

Suri is simply the newest scholar to be detained or deported by the Trump administration for his or her assist for Palestinian rights or for criticizing Israel for the warfare in Gaza. Identical to the high-profile arrest of Columbia graduate pupil Mahmoud Khalil, Suri is being accused by Division of Homeland Safety officers of spreading Hamas propaganda.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), stated on X: “Suri was a overseas alternate pupil at Georgetown College actively spreading Hamas propaganda and selling antisemitism on social media. Suri has shut connections to a identified or suspected terrorist, who’s a senior advisor to Hamas.”

His legal professionals deny this. Attorneys with the Virginia ACLU have stated in court docket filings that the federal government is retaliating in opposition to Suri for his and his spouse’s assist for Palestinians and for the couple’s ties to Gaza.

“Ripping somebody from their dwelling and household, stripping them of their immigration standing, and detaining them solely based mostly on political viewpoint is a transparent try by President Trump to silence dissent,” ACLU of Virginia Senior Immigrants’ Rights Legal professional Sophia Gregg stated in a press release on Suri’s case. “That’s patently unconstitutional.”

A consultant for DHS did not instantly reply to a request for remark.

Here is the newest on Suri’s case.

Who’s Badar Khan Suri?

On the time of his arrest on Monday, Suri was educating a course and attending Georgetown as a postdoctoral fellow on the college’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Middle for Muslim-Christian Understanding on the Edmund A. Walsh Faculty of International Service, based on his bio on the college’s web site.

He is within the U.S. below a J-1 visa, which based on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers, is for individuals who participate in authorized applications of educating, finding out, coaching and analysis. In 2020, Suri accomplished his Ph.D. in Peace & Battle Research from the Nelson Mandela Middle for Peace and Battle Decision at Jamia Millia Islamia, a public analysis college in New Delhi.

In a press release calling for Suri’s launch, Georgetown’s Alwaleed Middle had robust phrases for the Trump administration.

“[Suri] has dedicated no crime. Like Mahmoud Khalil earlier than him, he was arrested within the context of a marketing campaign by the Trump Administration to destroy increased training in america and punish their political opponents,” the middle stated.

Suri’s spouse, Mapheze Saleh, is a U.S. citizen of Palestinian descent and her father is Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Hamas, based on the Related Press. Yousef instructed The New York Occasions that his son-in-law wasn’t concerned in any “political activism,” together with on behalf of Hamas. Yousef, for his half, has criticized the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel and left his position within the Hamas-run authorities greater than a decade in the past, the Occasions stated.

Nader Hashemi, a professor of Center East and Islamic politics at Georgetown, additionally instructed the Related Press that Suri was targeted on educating and wasn’t concerned in political activism on the extremely prestigious school campus.

Suri’s attorneys say he and Saleh have confronted harassment and threats for talking out in assist of Palestinians and have been featured on websites devoted to bullying and defaming teachers and college students concerned within the pro-Palestine motion.

A photograph of Salah and details about her, together with her faculty and former employer is featured on an anonymously run web site, Suri’s attorneys write in court docket filings. They stated the positioning “maintains a blacklist of people perceived to assist Palestinian rights and is notorious for bullying, slandering, and defaming teachers and college students.”

What occurred?

Suri’s plight began March 17, when upon returning dwelling following a Ramadan meal celebration, he was approached by masked federal brokers who recognized themselves as a part of the Division of Homeland Safety. They knowledgeable him that the federal government had revoked his visa.

“He’s right here legally. There was no ongoing problem along with his visa,” Eden B. Heilman, authorized director of the ACLU of Virginia, instructed NPR.

The brokers shortly took him into custody in entrance of his spouse, Heilman stated. However there was by no means any actual rationalization to Suri or Saleh about the place he was going, what was taking place or why, Heilman says.

Suri was by no means charged with any crime. However in just below 72 hours, he has been moved from one immigration middle to the subsequent, ultimately touchdown in Louisiana the place he’s presently held. Each the pace and obscure nature of Suri’s arrest “is basically alarming,” Heilman stated.

What’s the authorities saying?

McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of DHS, stated Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the dedication to take away Suri on March 15, two days earlier than he was arrested. She stated on X that Rubio decided that Suri’s “actions and presence in america rendered him deportable below INA part 237(a)(4)(C)(i).”

The Trump administration is utilizing the identical “hardly ever used” federal provision to aim to take away Suri as they did within the case of Khalil, the previous Columbia pupil, based on the professor’s legal professionals.

This was carried out “… to retaliate in opposition to and punish noncitizens like Mr. Suri solely for his or her household ties to those that could have both expressed criticism of U.S. overseas coverage because it pertains to Israel, or who’re perceived to carry such vital views imputed to them resulting from familial relationship.”

Baher Azmy, authorized director of the Middle for Constitutional Rights and and one in every of Khalil’s legal professionals, stated the usage of this coverage by the federal authorities is “largely unprecedented, save for ugly historic precedents, together with the Purple Scare and McCarthyism,” the Columbia Spectator reported.

Suri’s attorneys are presently working to get him relocated nearer to his household, and authorized illustration, in Virginia, Heilman stated.