He had obtained his visa “to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a Georgetown University spokesperson told CBS News.
According to the petition filed by Suri’s lawyer for release, he was placed in deportation proceedings under the same provision of immigration law that the US government used to attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil, who led pro-Palestinian protests on the university campus.The provision empowers the US Secretary of State to deport non-citizens if the secretary decides that their presence in the country would threaten foreign policy, Politico reported. His petition stated that he has no criminal record and has not been charged with a crime.
His lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, said that Suri was being punished because his wife, Mapheze Saleh, a US citizen, is of Palestinian heritage, and the government suspected the couple opposed US foreign policy towards Israel.
The petition further added the pair has “long been doxxed and smeared” on anonymously run, far-right websites because they supported Palestinian rights. It also said that Suri’s wife has been alleged to have “ties with Hamas” and also worked for Al Jazeera.
Department of Homeland Security spokesman Tricia McLaughlin said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that Suri’s visa should be revoked for foreign policy concerns.
In an X post, McLaughlin wrote, “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.”
Suri’s detention was the latest in such immigration-related arrests after President Trump assumed power in January. These arrests target “terrorist sympathizers” or those who have “engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” Trump said.
Earlier, a 37-year-old Indian PhD student at Columbia University, Ranjani Srinivasan, accused of being a ‘pro-Hamas sympathizer’, reportedly self-deported last week. The Indian student, currently in Canada, described her ordeal as a ‘dystopian nightmare’.
“I’m fearful that even the most low-level political speech or just doing what we all do – like shout into the abyss that is social media – can turn into this dystopian nightmare where somebody is calling you a terrorist sympathiser and making you, literally, fear for your life and your safety,” she told the New York Times.
Before this, the authorities arrested a Palestinian activist, Mahmoud Khalil, who played an important role in Columbia University’s protests against Israel.
