US detains pro-Palestinian university student from India

President Donald Trump's administration has detained an Indian citizen who is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University and intends to deport him after deeming him a threat to US foreign policy.

Masked agents detained Badar Khan Suri outside his Arlington, Virginia home on Monday, accusing him of ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, his lawyer said. 

He was deemed "deportable" under a rarely used immigration law.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, alleged he was "actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media."

"Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas," she said.

University unaware of Suri's alleged illegal activities

No evidence was provided to support the department's claims. Suri has not officially been charged with committing any crime.

"We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention," a Georgetown spokesperson said in a statement.

"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."

A federal database for immigration detainees shows Suri is now being held in an immigration detention facility in Louisiana, pending a court hearing on his deportation.

He was teaching a class on "Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia."

"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," Suri's lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, said.

Suri's wife, Mapheze Saleh, a US citizen from Gaza, has written for Al Jazeera and Palestinian media, and has worked with Gaza's foreign ministry. According to his lawyer, she has not been arrested.

Trump targets pro-Palestinian protesters for deportation

Suri’s petition for release states he was placed in deportation proceedings under a rarely used immigration law provision, also invoked to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who led pro-Palestinian protests.

The provision allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens if their presence is deemed a threat to US foreign policy.

Khalil was taken by federal agents from his home in New York and told his student visa was revoked — even though he is a permanent resident of the United States and does not have a student visa.

Khalil's attempted deportation was blocked by a judge. Suri's lawyer is seeking a similar injunction.

US President Donald Trump, without evidence, has accused Khalil of supporting Hamas, the group that the US designates as a "foreign terrorist organization."

Trump has also claimed that pro-Palestinian protesters are antisemitic. Pro-Palestinian advocates, including some Jewish groups, argue that their criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza and support for Palestinian rights are wrongly labeled as antisemitism.

Edited by: Louis Oelofse