The Trump administration is detaining Dr. Badar Khan Suri in Texas after arresting him for constitutionally protected speech and association

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – In a federal district court hearing today, lawyers for Georgetown scholar Dr. Badar Khan Suri argued that the case should remain in Virginia, and for his return to Virginia and release from detention by the Trump administration. Federal immigration agents took him into custody outside his home in Virginia on March 17th in retaliation for his constitutionally protected speech and associations. He is detained in an ICE facility in Texas, 1,500 miles from his family and attorneys.

Dr. Suri, an Indian national, is a post-doctoral fellow specializing in religion and peace studies. Prior to Dr. Suri’s arrest, both he and his wife Ms. Mapheze Saleh, who is Palestinian American, were doxxed by the extremist blacklisting websites Canary Mission and CAMERA, which cited social media posts and Ms. Saleh’s family ties to Gaza.

“The Trump administration says Badar is a threat to the foreign policy of the United States. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Badar is a man of peace who studies peace. He is a scholar who loves books and teaching,” said Mapheze Saleh, Dr. Suri’s wife. “I miss Badar. Our three children are missing their father. All we want, all we are praying for, is justice and freedom.”

In the four days after masked federal agents abducted Dr. Suri outside his home, he was moved to five locations in three states. After he arrived at an immigration detention center in Texas, he then spent nearly two weeks in a room without a bed and with a television blaring twenty-one hours a day. He was observing the holy month of Ramadan, but ICE officials denied him water and food to break his fast. He was issued used underwear, and a bright red high-risk uniform reserved for people alleged to pose the greatest security threats.

“The Trump administration has unlawfully arrested, detained, and targeted Dr. Suri and others for exercising their First Amendment rights,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Mary Bauer. “The fight to free Dr. Suri is also a fight to preserve the constitutional liberties that protect us all. We will continue to defend Dr. Suri’s freedom to speak and to associate with his wife and family in the face of these unfounded attacks, and we are confident he will ultimately prevail.”  

As with other cases involving students and academics recently arrested for speech in support of Palestinian rights, the Trump administration is invoking a relic of McCarthyism to target Dr. Suri: a rarely-used provision in the 1952 Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) that gives the Secretary of State authority to deport people when there are “reasonable grounds” to believe their presence harms U.S. foreign policy.

Earlier this week in the case of former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled definitively against the Trump administration that the court can review Mr. Khalil’s First Amendment claims challenging his arrest and detention. Also this week, a federal judge in Vermont ruled against the Trump administration and released Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi on bond. In today’s hearing, Dr. Suri’s lawyers argued that he, too, should be released on bond while his habeas case is pending, or transferred to Virginia if not released, where he lives with Ms. Saleh and their three small children. The court also heard arguments on the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss the case or transfer the venue of the case to Texas.

The Trump administration is seeking to deport Dr. Suri through removal proceedings pending in immigration court in Texas. An initial hearing in Dr. Suri’s immigration case is scheduled for May 6.

“The Trump administration is targeting Dr. Suri – like they have targeted Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Mohsen Mahdawi and many other students and scholars – for opposing and speaking out against Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza,” said Samah Sisay, Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “But as we have seen over the past few months, their tactics will not work. The movement in support of Palestine remains strong in the U.S. and we will keep fighting until Dr. Khan Suri is free.”

Dr. Suri is challenging his arrest and detention under the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. On April 8th, his legal team filed an amended petition that included new details about his case, including a video of his arrest.

“The Administration’s actions—using the immigration system to punitively target, detain, transfer, and attempt to deport Dr. Suri—represent a clear attempt to sidestep due process and evade accountability,” said Nermeen Arastu, Associate Professor at CUNY School of Law. “This moment demands that all who care about the rule of law and the integrity of our courts stand up to defend due process and free speech—rights Dr. Suri continues to fight for after nearly 40 days separated from his wife and young children.”

Dr. Suri is represented by the ACLU of Virginia, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the HMA Law Firm, and the Immigrants and Non-Citizens Rights Clinic at the CUNY School of Law.

For more information, please see the case page.