Federal agents detained a Georgetown researcher in a growing US crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists, citing a rarely used immigration law.
Masked federal immigration agents detained a Georgetown University researcher in the US on Monday night amid the American administration’s clampdown on student activists.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and postdoctoral fellow, was arrested outside his home in Virginia and told his visa had been revoked, according to a lawsuit, cited by Politico, filed on Tuesday.
Monday night, Georgetown researcher Badar Khan Suri was abducted by masked DHS agents who informed him his visa had been revoked. He is now is facing deportation under the same immigration law provision used against Mahmoud Khalil.
Suri, an Indian national on a student visa and… pic.twitter.com/ITULpp3Pnt
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) March 20, 2025
The court papers, demanding Suri’s immediate release, indicated that he “was put in deportation proceedings under the same rarely used provision of immigration law that the government has invoked to try to deport Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student and green card holder who led pro-Palestinian protests on campus,” Politico reported.
The provision, according to the news website, gives the Secretary of State “the power to deport noncitizens if the secretary determines that their continued presence in the U.S. would threaten foreign policy.”
‘Hamas Propaganda, Antisemitsm’
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, alleged on X that Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.”
She further alleged that Suri had “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.”
Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.
Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas. The Secretary of State issued a… https://t.co/gU02gLAlX1
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) March 20, 2025
“The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025, that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i),” McLaughlin added.
‘Doxxed and Smeared’
The postdoctoral fellow’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmed, has argued in court papers that Suri, who has no criminal record and has not been charged with a crime, is being targeted because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife, who is a US citizen, “and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose U.S. foreign policy toward Israel,” Politico reported.
Solidarity with Badar Khan Suri—targeted for nothing but his principles. No charges, no record, just a Palestinian wife & a refusal to cheer on genocide. In America today, opposing the murder of children makes you a threat.
The U.S. demands loyalty to slaughter. https://t.co/tIYI2nakeS
— Nerdeen Kiswani (@NerdeenKiswani) March 20, 2025
The report also cites the petition as saying that the couple has ‘“long been doxxed and smeared’ on anonymously run, far-right websites due to their support for Palestinian rights.”
Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, has also been alleged to have ‘“ties with Hamas and once worked for Al Jazeera.”
Politico also cites a 2018 article about the couple in an Indian newspaper which said that Saleh’s father, Ahmed Yousef served as a “senior political adviser to the Hamas leadership.”
University’s Statement
A Georgetown University spokesperson said in a statement cited by various news reports that “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,” the statement added.
It further stated that the university supported “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.”
His lawyer also said that he had been unable to contact Suri as of Wednesday evening.
“We’re trying to speak with him. That hasn’t happened yet,” Ahmad reportedly said, adding “This is just another example of our government abducting people the same way they abducted Khalil.”
At the same time, no judge had yet been assigned to Suri’s case.
Mahmoud Khalil’s Case
Mahmoud Khalil is a recent Columbia University graduate who was involved in leading the Gaza Student Encampment last year. Detained by DHS agents on March 8 from his residence on Columbia’s campus, Khalil is currently being held at an ICE detention facility amid threats of deportation.
In his first communication since his arrest, Khalil said his arrest was “a direct consequence” of exercising his right to free speech in advocating for an end to “the genocide in Gaza.”
US President Donald Trump had defended Khalil’s arrest, vowing it was “the first arrest of many to come.”
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” said Trump, vowing to “find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
Trumpet and co are indeed making America great again. They are deporting students and researchers who can contribute a lot to the country and its economy, while privileging the Zionist parasites who takes everything and give nothing in return except for huge debts to be paid by tax payers. Zionism will be America’s doom.