A US court has blocked the Trump administration from deporting a Georgetown University researcher who was detained by immigration authorities earlier this week.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national, is a postdoctoral fellow studying and teaching at the prestigious Washington DC institution on a student visa.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused him of “spreading Hamas propaganda” and having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist”.
Mr Suri’s lawyer and employer have denied the allegation. His lawyer said in a court filing that his client was targeted because of his wife’s “identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech”.
In an order on Thursday, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said Mr Suri “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court issues a contrary order”.
In a sworn statement, his wife Mapheze Saleh said the detention “has completely upended our lives” and appealed to the court to allow Mr Suri to return home to his family.
“Our children are in desperate need of their father and miss him dearly,” she said. “As a mother of three children, I desperately need his support to take care of them and me.”
His arrest follows the detention or deportation of other foreign students and academics, including Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent Palestinian activist.
Mr Suri was arrested outside his home in northern Virginia on Monday night by masked immigration agents, according to legal filings seen by CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.
He was told the agents were with DHS, the filings say, and they informed him the government had revoked his visa and he was now facing expulsion from the country.
Mr Suri was taken to Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana where he is being held, according to US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at DHS, said on X that Mr Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media”.
She accused him of having “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas” without providing any further detail.
Mr Suri’s father-in-law is a former adviser to killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the Washington Post and New York Times reported.
In her court statement, Ms Saleh said her father lived in the US for nearly 20 years while pursuing a master’s and PhD. “Afterward, he served as political advisor to the Prime Minister of Gaza and as the deputy of foreign affairs in Gaza,” she said.
Ms Saleh said he left the Gaza government in 2010 and “started the House of Wisdom in 2011 to encourage peace and conflict resolution in Gaza”.
Mr Suri’s court filings allege that he and his wife Mapheze Saleh – a US citizen of Palestinian descent – had “long been doxxed and smeared” online by an “anonymously-run blacklisting site”.
The BBC has contacted Mr Suri’s lawyer for more details.
A spokesman for Georgetown University told the BBC that Mr Suri had been “granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan”.
The institution was “not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention”.
“We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable,” the spokesman said. “We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”
In her post on X, Ms McLaughlin said Secretary of State Marco Rubio “issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable”.
The BBC has contacted DHS to request more detail on the allegations against Mr Suri, and also asked the Indian embassy in Washington DC for comment.
Several students and academics have been investigated by US immigration officials in recent weeks, accusing them of advocating for “violence and terrorism”.
Khalil, a Columbia graduate and permanent US resident, was arrested on 8 March after being involved in pro-Palestinian protests on campus. He was accused of having ties to Hamas, which he denies.
Columbia student Leqaa Kordia, who is a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested for “overstaying her student visa”. She had previously been arrested in April 2024 for taking part in protests at Columbia University, according to DHS.
Ranjani Srinivasan, another Columbia University student, chose to “self-deport”. Officials said her student visa was revoked on 5 March. Her lawyers say she attended a handful of protests and had shared or liked social media posts related to Palestinians in Gaza.
Brown University professor and kidney transplant specialist Rasha Alawieh, who is Lebanese, was deported after arriving at Boston airport. US officials said they found “photos and videos” on her cell phone that were “sympathetic” to the former longtime leader of Hezbollah and militants.
According to a transcript of her interview reviewed by Reuters, she told customs officials she did not support Hezbollah but had high regard for its leader because of her religion.
“I’m not a political person,” she said. “I’m a physician. It’s mainly about faith.”