Indian researcher at US university arrested, faces deportation

New York: An Indian researcher at a US university has been arrested by immigration officers and is facing deportation, according to his lawyer.

Badar Khan Suri was taken on Monday outside his home in a Washington suburb in Virginia State by “masked” officers who told him that his student visa had been revoked, according to his lawyer quoted by Politico.

Suri, who has a PhD from Jamia Milia University in New Delhi, was a post-doctoral fellow at Georgetown University, where he was teaching a course on “Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia”.

He is married to a US citizen, Maphaz Ahmad Yousef, the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, who was described in a Hindustan Time article quoted by Politico as “a senior political advisor to the Hamas leadership”.

The lawyer Hassan Ahmad told Politico that a habeas corpus appeal has been filed in a federal court in Virginia.

Suri is the second Indian to face deportation over alleged involvement in the pro-Palestinian causes that swept the US campuses.

Earlier this month, Ranjani Srinivasan, a PhD student at Columbia University in New York fled to Canada, effectively self-deporting herself after an immigration officer came looking for her saying her student visa was cancelled.

Homeland Security Department accused her of being “involved in activities supporting Hamas, a terrorist organisation”.

Unlike in Srinivasan’s case and that of two others who have also been arrested over allegations of participating in campus protests and face deportation, President Donald Trump’s administration has not said anything about Suri’s arrest.

Politico reported that Ahmad said in his petition to the court that Suri was targeted because of his wife’s Palestinian heritage and the government suspects that they both oppose support for Israel.

According to his lawyer, Suri does not have a criminal record.

It was not clear if he had participated in protests.

According to Georgetown University, a Catholic institution, Suri was with its Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the School of Foreign Service.

It said he was working “on a project that looks into potential causes that hinder cooperation among religiously diverse societies and possibilities to overcome those hindrances” and has travelled extensively in conflict zones including in India, Pakistan, and Balochistan in Iran.

Suri appears to be the latest academic to be swept up in the crackdown on pro-Palestinian activities or sentiments in campuses that the Trump administration views as pro-Hamas.

Defending the crackdown, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X, “Coming to the United States on a visa is a privilege, not a right. The Trump Administration is determined to deny or revoke your visa if you’re here to support terrorists”.

A recent graduate of Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil was arrested this month and is in a Louisiana detention facility pending deportation despite having a green card

A judge has blocked his deportation pending the outcome of his appeal.

Another Columbia student, Leqaa Kordia, who is a Palestinian, has been arrested after she was accused of staying on after her student visa expired.

Rasha Alawieh, a doctor who is a professor at Brown University was denied re-entry to the US after she had gone to Lebanon and reportedly attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

IANS