A federal judge on Thursday ordered immigration officials not to deport a Georgetown scholar who was detained by the Trump administration and accused of spreading Hamas propaganda in the latest battle over speech on U.S. college campuses.
Politico reported that the researcher, Badar Khan Suri, was both teaching and studying at Georgetown under a student visa. He was arrested at his residence Monday by agents who identified with the Department of Homeland Security. He was informed his visa had been revoked, according to the lawsuit filed on his behalf.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered that Indian national Suri "shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court issues a contrary order."
The case is one of the latest as the Trump administration attempts to put pressure on student activists believed to be supporting anti-American positions.
The Hill reported the government has accused Suri of being a Hamas sympathizer. Suri's attorneys believe he is being targeted because his wife is of Palestinian descent and both have voiced support in the past for Palestinian causes.
The Hill further reported that the Trump administration alleged that Suri has close connections to a senior adviser to Hamas, has actively spread Hamas propaganda, and has promoted antisemitism on social media.
The U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement detainee locator website lists Suri as being in the custody of immigration officials at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana.
There is no schedule offered by the federal court for the next hearing in the case.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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