Washington: There’s some relief for Indian researcher Badar Khan Suri, who has been facing deportation in the United States. A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration not to deport Suri, who is studying at Washington’s Georgetown University. According to Suri’s lawyer, the United States was seeking to remove him after it accused him of harming US foreign policy.
The order is to remain in effect until lifted by the court, according to the order by US District Judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia.
The Department of Homeland Security has accused Suri of having ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The US department has accused him of spreading Hamas propaganda and antisemitism on social media. On March 15, Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined Suri could be deported for those activities, DHS had stated.
Federal agents reportedly arrested him outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, on Monday.
Suri, who holds a PhD in peace and conflict studies from an Indian university, has been living in the US on a student visa. He is a post-doctoral fellow at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which is part of the university’s School of Foreign Service.
He has been teaching a class at Georgetown University this semester on “Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia”.
Suri has married a US citizen, Mapheze Saleh. According to the Georgetown University website, Saleh is from Gaza. She has worked for Al Jazeera and Palestinian media outlets. She has also worked with the ministry of foreign affairs in the war-ravaged strip, Hindustan Times reported
