DHS Abducts Georgetown Postdoctoral Researcher Over Pro-Palestine Views

A postdoctoral student at Georgetown University has become the latest person living legally in the United States to face the threat of deportation from the Trump administration over his opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian citizen and research fellow at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (which is part of the school’s Foreign Service program), was detained on Monday night outside of his home in Arlington, Virginia. The immigration officials, who wore face coverings, identified themselves as being Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents and told Suri that his J-1 visa was being revoked at the behest of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” said Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin on the social media site X.

Suri’s abduction comes just weeks after Columbia graduate and Palestinian organizer Mahmoud Khalil was abducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month on the pretense that his campus activism against Israel’s genocide amounted to support for terrorism.

Although Suri was detained in Virginia, he has been transported to an ICE facility in Louisiana, where has been unable to contact his lawyers or his family. Khalil, who was detained in New York City, was also transferred to Louisiana, although he is currently being imprisoned in a different ICE facility than Suri.

In a statement from Georgetown, the school says it is “not aware of [Suri] engaging in any illegal activity,” and that they “have not received a reason for his detention.”

Suri has expressed opposition to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza on social media. Suri’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, has also alleged that his client is being punished based on who his spouse and father-in-law are.

Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, is a U.S. citizen from Gaza and a former contributing writer at Al Jazeera. Her father, Ahmed Yousef, previously served as a political adviser to Hamas but disassociated himself from the organization over a decade ago, after they refused to hold elections in Gaza following the expiration of their five-year term in office.

In a statement regarding his detention, Ahmad noted Suri’s accomplishments, including his PhD in peace and conflict studies.

“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,” Ahmad said.

Human rights advocates condemned Suri’s detention on social media.

“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,” Palestinian organizer Nerdeen Kiswani wrote on social media. “In America today, opposing the murder of children makes you a threat. The U.S. demands loyalty to slaughter.”

“The Trump administration continues to black bag immigrants based solely on speech they dislike. This is gross and blatant violation of the First Amendment,” Harvard Law clinical instructor Alejandra Caraballo said. “If this isn’t stopped, it’s only a matter of time before they do this to citizens as well.”

In a letter he penned from a detention facility in Louisiana, Khalil called for onlookers to defend the right to protest against the U.S.’s role in Israel’s genocide.

“The Trump administration is targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent,” Khalil wrote in a statement published earlier this week. “Visa-holders, green-card carriers, and citizens alike will all be targeted for their political beliefs. In the weeks ahead, students, advocates, and elected officials must unite to defend the right to protest for Palestine. At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all.”