(NewsNation) — A Georgetown University postdoctoral research fellow who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week outside his home faces deportation for reportedly opposing U.S. foreign policy despite being in the United States legally on a student visa.
Badar Khan Suri, who is an Indian national, was detained by ICE earlier this week and was sent to Louisiana, where he is awaiting a hearing in immigration court, his lawyer, Hassan Ahmed told the Washington Post.
Suri’s detainment comes just more than a week after Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student, was arrested by ICE outside his home.
Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary with the Department of Homeland Security, wrote on X Wednesday that Suri is a foreign exchange student at Georgetown who was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.”
She wrote that Suri has “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist who is a senior advisor to Hamas. She said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined on March 15 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States “rendered him deportable” under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Who is Badar Khan Suri?
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, a Georgetown spokesperson told NewsNation in a statement on Thursday.
Georgetown’s student newspaper, The Hoya, reported Suri studies religious violence and peace, focusing on the Middle East and South Asia. He is currently teaching a class on majoritarianism and minority rights in South Asia at the university, the report said.
The university spokesperson said the school is not aware of Suri engaging in any illegal activity and that the school has not received a reason for his detainment.
“We support our community members’ right to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable,” the spokesperson said. “We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”
Why was Badar Khan Suri detained?
Agents identified themselves as being with DHS and told Suri that his visa had been revoked by the government, Politico reported this week, citing a lawsuit filed by Suri’s attorney.
The petition stated that Suri was placed into the same deportation proceedings as Khalil under the INA, which gives the Secretary of State the authority to deport non-citizens if they are deemed a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
The petition stated that Suri has no criminal record and has not been charged with a crime. President Donald Trump said that Khalil’s arrest would be the “first of many to come.”
Ahmed, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NewsNation on Thursday, told the New York Times that he has been unable to speak to his client since he was detained. However, he argued in the petition that Suri is being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife, who is a U.S. citizen.
The court filing stated that the government suspects that Suri and his wife oppose U.S. foreign policy with Israel, Politico reported. The petition is not publicly accessible on the online court docket.
The New York Times reported that Suri’s wife, a Palestinian American, is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former advisor to Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader whom Israel assassinated in 2024 in Iran. Yousef told the New York Times that Suri was not involved in any “political activism,” including on behalf of Hamas.
The newspaper reported that Yousef left his position with the Hamas-run government in Gaza more than 10 years ago and does not have any current connection to Hamas. The report said that Yousef has publicly criticized Hamas’ attack on Israel, which set off the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.
What happens next to Badar Khan Suri?
Similar to Khalil, who possesses a green card, Suri was sent to ICE’s detainment facility in Louisiana after his arrest.
Khalil remains detained in Louisiana after his case was transferred from New York to New Jersey by a federal judge on Wednesday. He is expected to remain there in ICE detention until New Jersey rules on his case, the New York Times reported.
In a letter released by his attorneys, Khalil described himself as a political prisoner who is currently “bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against a many great people precluded from the protections of the law.”
He said his arrest was a “direct consequence” of him exercising his right to free speech. He said that for hours, he did not know the reason for his arrest or if he was facing immediate deportation.
There is no timeline for Suri’s appearance in court.
“Seeing our government abduct and jail another innocent person is beyond contemptible,” Ahmad told the Washington Post. “And 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.”
