An Indian postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University faces deportation after the administration of President Donald Trump accused him of posing a threat to US foreign policy, the man’s lawyer said Wednesday.
Badar Khan Suri, who is in the United States on a student visa, was arrested outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, on Monday night and is currently detained in Alexandria, Louisiana, pending an immigration court hearing. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allege that Suri has ties to Hamas and has circulated pro-Hamas propaganda and antisemitic rhetoric on social media.
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According to DHS’s statement—shared with Fox News and reposted by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller—Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Suri as “deportable.” The statement did not offer specific evidence for the charges, prompting legal experts and civil rights groups to question the basis for Suri’s detention.
“If an accomplished scholar who focuses on conflict resolution is whom the government decides is bad for foreign policy, then perhaps the problem is with the government, not the scholar,” Suri’s attorney said in an email.
Suri, who is married to a US citizen, is a researcher at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and holds a PhD in peace and conflict studies from an institution in India. According to Georgetown’s website, he has been teaching a course on “Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia” this semester. A university spokesperson stated that Georgetown has not been informed of a reason for his detention and has no record of Suri engaging in any illegal activity.
Suri’s wife, US citizen Mapheze Saleh, hails from Gaza and has previously worked with the foreign ministry there, in addition to contributing to Al Jazeera and Palestinian outlets. Saleh was not arrested, according to Suri’s lawyer.