A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to deport a Georgetown University student accused of sharing Hamas propaganda on social media, according to reports.
US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, a Biden appointee, ordered that Indian national Badar Khan Suri cannot be removed from the country until a court issues a contrary order following the academic’s arrest on Monday.
Suri is currently being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana, online records show. His lawyers have filed a petition for his release and are seeking to have him returned to Virginia.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson alleged that Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” CBS reported.
The postdoctoral associate was taken into custody at his Rosslyn, Va., home where he lives with his wife Mapheze Saleh, and three kids.
Arresting ICE agents on Monday told Suri that his student visa had been revoked, according to petition filed by his lawyer on Tuesday, the CBS stated.
Government officials alleged to the outlet that Suri had “close connections” to a Hamas official and spread hateful, anti-Israel rhetoric on social media.
Lawyers for Suri argued that his detention is “unjustified” and a violation of his due process rights, according to the report.
Filings from Suri’s lawyers allege he and his wife were falsely smeared as an antisemite by “blacklisting site” The Canary Mission, which claims to identify individuals engaged in anti-Israel politics.
That site claims that Saleh, a Georgetown University student studying for a master of arts degree, is the daughter of former senior adviser to the Hamas Foreign Ministry, Ahmed Yousef.
Saleh’s profile also lists Suri as having previously expressed support for Hamas.
Suri is in the US on a student visa. He is a postgraduate student and professor at Georgetown University, which said they did not know of any allegations of illegality.
“We are not aware of [Suri] engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” Columbia said in a statement to The Post Wednesday, adding, “We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”
In the statement, the university said Suri was doing doctoral research on “peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
