US President Donald Trump's administration has detained another pro-Palestine student, an Indian man studying at Washington's Georgetown University and is seeking to deport him after deeming him a harm to US foreign policy, the student's lawyer said.
The US Department of Homeland Security accused Badar Khan Suri of ties to Hamas and claimed he had been “promoting anti-Semitism on social media”, according to a statement it shared with Fox News on Wednesday.
The DHS statement to Fox News, which was reposted by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, did not cite evidence. It said Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that Suri's activities "rendered him deportable."
Suri — who is living in the US on a student visa and is married to an American citizen — has been detained in Alexandria, Louisiana, and is awaiting a court date in immigration court, his lawyer said. Federal agents arrested him outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, on Monday night.
Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown's Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which is part of the university's School of Foreign Service.
"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 lawyer said in an email.
No arrest notification
A Georgetown University spokesperson said the university had not received a reason for Suri's detention, and it was not aware of Suri engaging in any illegal activity.
Suri's wife, Mapheze Saleh, is a US citizen, said his lawyer. Saleh is from Gaza, according to the Georgetown University website, which said she has written for Al Jazeera and Palestinian media outlets and worked with the Palestinian foreign ministry in Gaza. Saleh has not been arrested, the lawyer added.
Suri himself has been teaching a class this semester on "Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia" and has a PhD in peace and conflict studies from a university in India, according to the Georgetown University website.
The case comes as the Trump administration faces protests over the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent pro-Palestine activist who was arrested on March 8 over his activism for Gaza. Trump hailed his arrest and said it was the "first of many."
Trump, without evidence, has accused Khalil of supporting Hamas. Khalil's legal team says he has no links to the Palestinian resistance group.
In his first letter since his detention, Khalil said his arrest was a direct consequence of practising his right to free speech and warned Trump would go after visa-holders, green-card carriers and even citizens for protesting Israel's carnage in besieged Gaza.
