- Title: Judge bars deportation of pro-Palestinian Georgetown University student
- Date: 21st March 2025
- Summary: NORTHERN VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 21, 2025) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) HASSAN AHMAD, IMMIGRATION LAWYER AND ADVOCATE REPRESENTING BADAR KHAN SURI, SAYING: "Coming on the heels of Mahmoud Khalil and this very rarely used section of law in the Immigration Nationality Act, section 237 (a)(4)(c)(I), which allows the Secretary of State to deport or remove anybody who
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Badar Khan Suri Georgetown Hamas Hassan Ahmad Palestine deportation free speech
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: US
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions,North America
- Reuters ID: LVA006080621032025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump's administration not to deport Badar Khan Suri, an Indian man studying at Washington's Georgetown University whose lawyer has said the United States was seeking to remove him after it accused him of harming U.S. foreign policy.
The order is to remain in effect until lifted by the court, according to the three-paragraph order by U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia.
The Department of Homeland Security has accused Suri of ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and said he had spread Hamas propaganda and antisemitism on social media. On March 15, Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined Suri could be deported for those activities, according to DHS.
Suri is living in the U.S. on a student visa, is married to an American citizen and has been detained in Alexandria, Louisiana, according to his lawyer. He is awaiting a court date in immigration court, his lawyer said.
"He has made statements in support of Palestine and made statements in support of the Palestinian people and made statements critical of the actions of the Israeli government. It is all 100% protected political speech, and the First Amendment reaches J-1 visa scholars as well," his lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, in an interview with Reuters.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday's court order.
The case comes as Trump seeks to deport foreigners who took part in pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel's war in Gaza following an October 2023 Hamas attack. Trump's measures have sparked outcry from civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups who accuse his administration of unfairly targeting political critics by invoking rarely used laws.
Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown's Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which is part of the university's School of Foreign Service.
Suri's wife, Mapheze Saleh, is a U.S. citizen, said his lawyer. Saleh is from Gaza, according to the Georgetown University website, which said she has written for Al Jazeera and Palestinian media outlets and worked with the foreign ministry in Gaza. Saleh has not been arrested, the lawyer added.
(Production by: Dan Fastenberg) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None