Judge Orders Georgetown Academic Released From Immigration Detention

On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the immediate release of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University who had been detained for two months in a Texas immigration facility. Suri, an Indian national, was arrested in March but has not been charged with any crime.

Judge Patricia Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia criticized the government for failing to provide any substantive evidence to justify Suri’s detention. She stated that the government had not identified any specific statements made by Suri that posed a threat to U.S. interests, countering the government’s claims. Judge Giles further ordered Suri’s release without bond, imposing minimal conditions other than requiring him to return to Virginia and attend all court hearings. The judge also rejected the government’s request for GPS monitoring, citing the lack of evidence suggesting Suri was a flight risk.

Suri is among several international scholars, including Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Momodou Taal, who were allegedly targeted by the Trump administration for their pro-Palestinian activism. Ozturk was released last week as her case continues.

Court documents reveal that Suri moved to the U.S. in 2022 and had been teaching a course on minority rights in South Asia at Georgetown. Following his arrest in March, another district court judge ruled that Suri could not be deported until a court reviewed his case.

Judge Giles noted that Suri’s detention could have a “chilling effect” on others critical of Israel, asserting that his arrest was likely punitive and violated the First Amendment. Suri’s attorneys argued that he was targeted due to his wife’s background. His wife, Mapheze Saleh, is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated by Israel last year in Iran. Saleh’s photo and information about her work at Al Jazeera have appeared on the Canary Mission, a controversial website that critics say targets individuals perceived as anti-Israel.

On March 15, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a determination that Suri’s presence in the U.S. could have “serious foreign policy consequences,” but the government did not submit that memo as evidence in court. Suri was arrested two days later outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, by masked immigration officials and moved through various detention centers before being granted a hearing in May.

During his time in detention, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a video of his arrest, drawing parallels to similar detentions of Ozturk and Mahdawi. In April, Suri publicly stated that he had “never even been to a protest.” His attorneys suggested that his detention was motivated by his marriage to Saleh, who has been scrutinized by conservative outlets due to her family’s alleged connections to Hamas.

Suri’s case has garnered significant public attention. Last week, Representative Donald S. Beyer Jr., along with several supporters from Georgetown, attended a hearing to observe the proceedings. Nader Hashemi, the director of the Georgetown center that hosted Suri, also attended, having previously visited Suri at the Texas detention center.

Despite his release in Virginia, Suri still faces a separate immigration case in Texas, related to the government’s effort to deport him. Judge Giles emphasized that the Texas case was “entirely separate” from the constitutional claims in Virginia, which focus solely on the legality of his detention without criminal charges.

A Department of Justice attorney indicated that the government had no immediate plans to deport Suri without due process, but Judge Giles expressed skepticism regarding those assurances.

Suri’s case is part of a broader pattern of legal challenges concerning the detainment of foreign scholars over alleged pro-Palestinian activism. Recently, a federal judge ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a student at Columbia University who had organized pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Mahdawi, a green card holder from a Palestinian refugee camp, was detained while on his way to a citizenship appointment in Vermont.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit in Massachusetts seeks to prevent the State Department and immigration authorities from targeting foreign students based on their speech or activism. In April, a judge rejected a government request to dismiss the case, citing potential First Amendment violations and scheduling further hearings for July.