A Georgetown University researcher- Badar Khan Suri- has been detained by immigration authorities for alleged ties with "Hamas terrorists." The Indian national enrolled as a postdoctoral fellow is a former student of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington DC.
“Close connections to a known or suspected terrorist"
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary Department of Homeland Security took to X and said, Badar Khan Suri is said to have "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist." "Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media," she added. “Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas. The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i)," the post reads.
"Masked agents" arrested Suri
As per a report by Politico, Suri, who was studying and teaching on a student visa, has been “detained by federal immigration authorities amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on student activists whom the government accuses of opposing American foreign policy. The report further stated “masked agents” arrested Suri from outside his home in Virginia on Monday night.
Suri's lawyer files lawsuit
A petition filed by his lawyer Hassan Ahmad said that he was taken to a facility in Virginia and is “expected to be transferred soon to a detention centre in Texas." The Politico report said that Suri’s lawyer has filed a lawsuit for his immediate release.
“The agents identified themselves as being with the Department of Homeland Security and told him the government had revoked his visa,” the lawsuit says, according to the Politico report.
The report added that according to Suri’s petition, he was put in “deportation proceedings under the same rarely used provision of immigration law” that the government has invoked to try to deport Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident arrested for his role in leading campus protests at Columbia against Israel.
The petition says the couple has “long been doxxed and smeared” on anonymously run, far-right websites due to their support for Palestinian rights. The petition adds that Suri’s wife Mapheze Saleh has been alleged to have “ties with Hamas” and once worked for Al Jazeera.
The petition further notes that Suri has no criminal record and has not been charged with a crime.
(PTI inputs)