The Trump administration has detained Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University. It is seeking to deport him over alleged links to Hamas and pro-Palestinian activism, according to his lawyer, reports The Jerusalem Post.
Suri, an Indian citizen married to a US citizen, was arrested outside his Virginia home and is now being held in Alexandria, Louisiana, pending an immigration court hearing. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims Suri spread Hamas propaganda and antisemitic content on social media, although it has not provided public evidence.
The DHS statement, shared with Fox News and reposted by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, stated that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had determined Suri’s activities „rendered him deportable.” The allegations fall under the administration’s broader push to remove foreign nationals involved in pro-Palestinian protests, which intensified following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel.
Suri, who has a PhD in peace and conflict studies and teaches a class on minority rights in South Asia, works at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, part of the School of Foreign Service.
His lawyer described the case as politically motivated, saying, „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.”
Georgetown University said it had not received any details from federal authorities and had no evidence of wrongdoing by Suri.
Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, a US citizen originally from Gaza, has also not been charged. According to the university’s website, she has worked with Al Jazeera and Palestinian media and previously served in Gaza’s foreign ministry.
The case echoes the recent arrest of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, also detained and facing deportation for participating in pro-Palestinian campus protests. Trump has accused such protesters of antisemitism and of supporting Hamas, though critics argue these claims are often unsupported and politically motivated.
Civil rights organisations and immigrant advocacy groups have condemned these actions, warning they represent a threat to academic freedom and free speech and risk equating criticism of Israeli policy with antisemitism.
The case against Suri now moves to the immigration courts, where the legal battle over his deportation will unfold.
Photo credit: ANDREW THOMAS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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