US government cannot deport Indian student until court rules, judge orders
Alexandria (US) (AP): A federal judge has ordered immigration officials not to deport an Indian student who was detained by the Trump Administration and accused of spreading Hamas propaganda in the latest battle over speech on US college campuses.
US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered that Badar Khan Suri “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court issues a contrary order.”
Suri's attorney wrote in an earlier court filing that Suri was targeted because of his social media posts and his wife's “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech.”
Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University.
“Dr Suri is an academic, not an activist," his attorney Hassan Ahmad wrote in a court filing on Thursday. “But he spoke out on social media about his views on the Israel-Gaza war. Even more so, his wife is an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and the violence it has perpetrated against Palestinians.”
Suri's attorney argued that federal authorities have provided no evidence that he's committed any crimes and that his detention violates his free speech and due process rights. Suri, who has no criminal record, holds a visa authorizing him to be in the US as a visiting scholar, and his wife is a US citizen, according to the motion.
“The Trump Administration has openly expressed its intention to weaponise immigration law to punish noncitizens whose views are deemed critical of US policy as it relates to Israel,” Suri's attorney wrote.
Suri was accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media” and determined to be deportable by the Secretary of State's office, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said late Wednesday on the social platform X. Suri's case was first reported by Politico.
Suri was arrested Monday night outside of his Virginia home, where he lives with his wife and three children, who are between the ages of 5 and 9, according to the filing by his lawyer.
Masked agents “refused to tell him the basis for the arrest, handcuffed him, and forced him into an unmarked black SUV,” Suri's lawyer wrote. “Dr. Suri's wife quickly arrived on the scene and begged for answers; the agents only disclosed that they were from Homeland Security, the government was revoking Dr Suri's visa, and he would be detained in Chantilly.”
Suri and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, “have long been doxxed and smeared,” Suri's lawyer wrote, while she said in a separate statement to the court that a website had "claimed falsely that my husband and I have ties to Hamas.'"
“I feel completely unsafe and can't stop looking out the door, terrified that someone else will come and take me and the children away as well,” she said in her statement.
Saleh was born in Missouri but spent much of her life in Gaza after age five, according to court filings. She and Suri married in New Delhi, India, in 2013 and lived there before moving to the US; he came in 2022 and she and their children joined him the following year.
Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown, told The Associated Press that Suri was intensely focused on teaching and research that centered on religion and peace processes in the Middle East and South Asia.
Suri felt strong solidarity and sympathy for Palestinians, but was not outwardly political on campus, the professor said.
“We've organized dozens of events since Oc. 7th, when the Israel-Gaza war began, and I don't recall seeing him in any of those events,” said Hashemi, who directs the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, where Suri is a post-doctoral fellow. “That's not who he was.”
Before his arrest, Suri and his wife had been targets of right-wing campus groups, in part because Saleh's father is Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Hamas, Hashemi said.
Yousef confirmed to The New York Times that Suri is his son-in-law, adding that Suri wasn't involved in any “political activism,” including on behalf of Hamas.
Yousef, who has publicly criticised the Oct 7 attack on Israel, told the newspaper that he left his position in the Hamas-run government in Gaza more than a decade ago and does not hold a senior position with the militant group.
Georgetown's Alwaleed Center said in a statement that Suri's arrest was part of a "campaign by the Trump Administration to destroy higher education in the United States and punish their political opponents.”
Suri was later taken to a detention facility in Louisiana, according to a government website. His lawyers are seeking his immediate release and to halt deportation proceedings through their habeas motion filed Tuesday against the Trump administration.
Suri's detention more than 1,000 miles (about 1,600 kilometers) away from his family and attorney is “plainly intended as retaliation and punishment for Mr. Suri's protected speech,” his attorney added.
Separately, Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal US resident with no criminal record, was detained earlier this month over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and is fighting deportation efforts in federal court. And Dr Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was deported over the weekend despite having a US visa.
Democratic US Rep Don Beyer, whose district includes the county where Suri was detained, said in a Thursday statement that the scholar's detention was illegal, urging the court to consider Suri's case.
“The justification' given for these violations of Mr. Suri's right to due process is another violation of the Constitution: a blatant attack on the First Amendment,” Beyer said in a statement. “Mr Suri and his family are unfortunately the latest victim of President Trump's assault on the freedom of speech.”
Suri's lawyers say he hopes to become a university professor. A Georgetown webpage said that he earned a doctorate in India while studying efforts to introduce democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq, and he has travelled extensively in conflict zones in several countries.
The university said in a statement Thursday that Suri was “duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“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 school said.
The US Customs and Immigration Enforcement detainee locator website lists Suri as being in the custody of immigration officials at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana.
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“Full prepared..going to win,” Congress MP KC Venugopal ahead of Kerala polls
EC not functioning as a neutral institution: Venugopal
Congress MP K. C. Venugopal on Monday raised concerns over the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India for the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, questioning the timing of the poll dates and alleging that the schedule leaves limited time for campaigning.
Speaking to news agency ANI in Delhi after the poll panel announced elections in five states and Union Territories, Venugopal said that the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are fully prepared for the elections and confident of victory. At the same time, he questioned the pattern of dates announced by the Election Commission.
“We are fully prepared, we are going to win the elections... You can see how the Election Commission has set the dates. The first phase of elections is on the 9th, nominations are due until the 23rd, scrutiny is on the 24th, nominations can be withdrawn until the 26th, and after that, there are 11 days for campaigning,” he said.
“As for Kerala, there is Easter and Good Friday in the first week...The Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier... The counting date is on May 4th, so what was the point of holding elections in Kerala so early? What is their intention behind holding elections on the same day in Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam?... We are confident that we will win, but the people of the country are seeing the biased attitude of the Election Commission...,” he added.
He further stated that his party was ready for elections irrespective of the dates announced by the poll body.
“We are going to win the election. India's strategy has been set up. And we are all ready for winning this election. But one thing as far as declaring election, even though they are giving only for five days, we are going to win the election. We have no problem,” he said.
Detailing the poll schedule while questioning the time available for campaigning, he stated, “but you can see the pattern of date which the election commission announced. Yesterday they declared election, and today they notified us. The first phase of election on April 9th, filing of nomination will be over on the 23rd of this month, 24th scrutiny, 26th withdrawal of nomination. After 26, four plus seven, 11 days campaign.”
“As far as Kerala is concerned, April first week is a holy week. The holiday week means, Good Friday is there. Nobody will do anything on Good Friday. Easter is the big festival. These festivals are natural, you have to see that. Among the 11 days, working days, two, three days will go for holidays. Then hardly seven, eight days for campaigning in this election for candidates,” the Congress MP questioned.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier if there was a need for an early election schedule.
Questioning the urgency behind placing Kerala in the first phase of polling, he added that the counting date is much later.
“Which is the date of counting? Fourth May. Then what is the urgency of putting Kerala in the first phase without giving sufficient time for candidates? And putting Kerala, Puducherry, Assam together, what is the intention behind that?” Venugopal questioned.
He also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning as a neutral institution.
“The Election commission is completely losing that capacity as a neutral player. You can see 14 of our prime minister's programs over and on the 15th they announce the election, 16th notification comes,” he said.
Venugopal further stated that such tactics would not affect the Congress’ prospects in the election.
“They think that this type of techniques and tactics, because of these techniques and tactics, UDF is going to lose, and Congress is going to lose. This is their complete dream only. This is not going to happen. We are very much confident at any cost, whether they are not giving any time also, we are going to win the election,” he said.
“But the people of India are watching this. The tricks of the election commission. To restrict the campaign, people of India are watching. This I want to bring into the notice of the nation. That's all,” Venugopal said.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for the Kerala Assembly election. Polling in the state will be held in a single phase on April 9 while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
